The Dragon Heart Of Dunbroch
by k1mm1
Summary: Dunbroch is under threat by a strange new world and Merida is forced to marry. Again. As she is plunged into the new world of Berk, dragons and danger, her fate is left in the hands of tradition. But will her headstrong personality get the better of her as she starts to warm up to a certain Viking boy. Has Hiccup grown up enough to be what she needs? MERRICUP!
1. Freedom

The Dragon Heart Of Dunbroch

Merida's POV

It was a bright and beautiful day in our home of Dunbroch. The sun touched the far mountains kissing there peaks and blessing us with shadows of all shapes.

I sighed looking far out into the ocean; I had just taken Angus on a lengthy journey since I hadn't had him out in a while. My bow; which was now currently tied to my back hadn't been used in a while either since I had been attending these extra "princess" lessons. I didn't understand what all the commotion was all of a sudden; sure years had passed, snow had come and gone but I had learnt the basics of a princess's behaviour, and did I like it? No. Was I going to follow the princess's way? No. Did it please my mum? Absolutely.

"Aww Angus I dinnae know what to do" I leaned over stroking the Clydesdale's mane. He happily chortled and snorted in return.

"Why is she being _soo_ insistent? I mean its no' like I wannea disappoint her, I just wannea be ma self, there's no 'than better than being out here right now, no responsibilities, no singan no curtseys, no..."

"MERIDA!" my mother yelled her tone harsh and growling.

"God Angus how can she be soo loud!" This was the seventh time today! I huffed and went to saddle the animal I loved dearly.

"I guess this adventures being' cut short boy, half ter put it off till tomorrow."

The ride back to the castle was too quick for my liking, I quickly went to stable angus before heading round to the front of the castle, to my surprise my mother was already there waiting.

"Ah there you are! Where have yer been dear! Yer have a lesson in cookery at 2 with maudie! Then we've got some dress fitt'ans and a singan lesson later on"

"Aww mum! Please just fer a change can we no' do this" I pleaded. I'm not sure why I did it, it was no hope.

She'd never listen.

"Come along Merida, Itl be over before yer know it" I huffed and stomped unhappily behind her, this was going to take forever…

"Chin up straight! A princess does no' slouch Merida!"

"But MUM I Dinnae wannea learn ta_ sing_!" I stomped my foot acting like a child, my large over grown mane of red hair bouncing with me.

If anyone could see me now, they wouldn't of guessed I was turning 18 in 2 months.

"Every Princess can sing Merida! Including you, yer have a lovely voice sweetea, just _proportion _yer self better"

"oy" I breathed out stretching…

Later on at dinner that night, my dad thought we should all here his daring fight with Mor'du again, my three younger brothers just sat there rolling their eyes and playing with their food.

I watched my dad contently finding his determination to keep the story fresh humouring; it was just hilarious to see his reactions to every word.

"And then WHOSH me leg was CLEAN OFF!" my dad's voice belted through the halls making my mother jump, she was busy sorting through papers, which were all now all over the floor as the result of her fright.

"Och Fergus! Yer big fool yer made me jump ten mile!" My mother scolded, a look of love hovering in her eyes before she turned to sort out the spilled papers on the floor.

"It would nea be the firs' time me sweet" he winked at her, I just gagged. Suddenly my mother gasped out of the blue.

"Oh Fergus! They've accepted!"

"What's that now?" I asked curiosity getting the better of me.

It didn't help to notice my dad shifting uncomfortably in his seat.


	2. Treaty

"Boys you may be excused" My mother turned to face my three younger brothers, who then all in unison, turned and jumped from their seats and scurried away out of the door into the pantry, their tiny legs fleeting quickly.

My eyes flicked to my mother, it was clear to see the confusion that settled in my face.

"You see Merida…there's something yer father and I need to talk to yer about" I recognised the scene all too well

"Aw mum! No' this again!" I moaned.

I knew her tone, her stance and her actions all too well.

The suitor talk.

"Please Merida see sense, this is important! Don't yer go jump'an to all conclusions!"

"Mum! Im no' getting married! I dinnae wan' to!"

"Merida, yer need to hear yer mum out this time sweetie, we need yer help" My dad placed his hand over mine, making mine look so small compared to his own. He looked to me with sad eyes; I'd never seen him so sincere.

" Il hear yer out" I sighed and turned to my mother.

"Well yer see, There has been some recent…troubles happening in and around our island Merida, forces that we ne'er heard of before, turning up on our door step trying to invade our clans, we need to unite a'r people, we need a stable community" My mothers eye turned to pleading.

"But we already have one mother! We made an agreement the last time this happened! Remember! We need to write our own stories!"

"I understand Merida, I do just trust me, we have outcasts turning up willy nilly all over the place, it's no safe here, we need help! we need more allies and yer know how that is ter end" My eyes started to tear up.

"Merida, were not saying that yer'e getting married in a month or even a year! We as a collected force are going to find you a suitor, someone who will take care of yer and in return you'll rule the land with safety and security, you're doing this for the good of the kingdom"

"And a' SUPPOSE I don't get a choice in who I be with! No mum, I Cannae do it! NOT THIS TIME, NO WAY! Please! See sense!"

"Merida! We are! We Cannae keep you safe forever! We're getting older and so are you! Yer responsibilities are goin' to be put to the test in a few weeks! Yer about to turn 18! It's the age of marriage and babies Merida no to mention if yer gonnea take the thrown in a few years, yer need a suitor!

"MARRIAGE?! BABIES?!" My heart was going a thousand miles an hour, So I was to wed and have a child. And rule the kingdom.

If I could pull out my red hair I would of done, My mood shifted from panic, to exhaustion to stress all at once. Glancing backwards and forwards between my mother and father, both of them shared the same concerning look.

"Mum, Dad please see where I'm coming from!"

"We are child, jus think of it this way, If we don't find you a suitor among the Vikings then we come home and yer marry one of the clans further down south " Hang on did he just say..

"VIKINGS!" I shrieked, my eyes now wide with fear and shock.

The Scots and the Vikings?

"Mum…noo… I'm... I'm no marrying some savage beast of er man!"

"Aw sweetea, don't judge a book by its cover! You never know they might be well civilised people. And Chief Stoic has known yer father fer a long time, His men are well prepared to welcome us with open arms"

I sat back in my seat staring at the stone ceiling trying to count each slate to calm me down. I couldn't fight it, since the years of having freedom and fun I had matured, gained a sense of stability.

Even if at times I acted like a small child.

I put my head in my hands and sighed, my dad patted my back.

"Okay" I said totally regretting it once it slipped out. Both my parents froze.

"Really, no fighting?" my dad said stunned

"Do yer want me ter change me mind! Im no happy about this, but there's no escaping it I suppose, and as long as I have the choice of when a wannea marry them! Then I could probably get ma head around the idea"

"Oh sweetea!" my mother hugged my shoulders grinning as she did so before kissing me all over my face

"yer dinnae know how proud ye've made me!" My mother gushed on for a few minutes about dresses and looking ma best and talking through the games that were going to be organised.

"May a' be excused?" I asked when she finished

"Of course, go get a good night's sleep dearie, we leave a' dawn!"

I half ran half walked out of the room the tears in my eyes dripping over before I hit the exit. Once it was shut tightly behind me I ran as fast as I could to the stables, in desperate need of comfort and affection from the only friend I had.

"Oh Angus!" I sobbed into his neck, the horse ninnied and whined his eyes seeming to understand the pain.

"It's happening again! What am a' gonnea do!"

Angus nudged his nose into my side and huffed. I continued to stroke him while lost in my own thoughts, trying to calm the sadness with some sort of rational thinking.

They could be just lovely…

I might like being there…

Itl give me a chance to explore new sites...

See new cultures...

I might even fall in love…

The last thought I pondered over for a long time; yes while I enjoyed my independence there was a sad longing in me, something that I felt was missing. I had no idea why but imagining spending my life with someone else wouldn't be so bad. I put it all down to hormones.

It would please my mother, my father and my kingdom.

This was a decision that I couldn't just make for myself. Agreeing to this treaty offered me an easier start when running the kingdom, plus it would be half the work to allow someone else to do it. Maybe the suitor would understand, maybe they would feel the same way as me.

"Oh gods, give me a sign, is this the right thin' that am doin?"

Just as I spoke the sentence out loud, I heard a loud whooshing sound followed by a fast swooping. I looked up into the night's sky; the navy blue colour seemed to deepen around the shining light starts that glittered above.

And there somewhere between the mountains and the forest-line, a dark winged figure shot across the silhouette.

Curiosity got the better of me again, as without thinking about it; I pulled on my dark green cloak shoving the hood up and diving onto Angus before kicking my heels into his sides, sending him into a fast gallop.

"Head for the edge of the forest Angus" I whispered to the horse,

My mum would kill me if she knew what I was up too…

Within 5 minutes we had galloped our way into an open clearing where no trees could stop our view.

Silence filled the air as I pulled out my bow and arrow watching the skyline carefully, my breathing slowed as my eyes narrowed and fell upon an opening in the area the sound filled my ears again and all to suddenly a black shadow flew past the skyline making me jump.

Instinctively I let go of the bow shooting it towards the bird looking creature.

Seeing it up close however, it was way too obvious that this creature wasn't a bird. In fact, it was like nothing I've seen in my whole life! Larger than anything I had ever seen before in my life.

The creature seemed to make a noise but kept flying.

That's strange I thought to myself with worry. I never miss…

I looked around for the arrow I just shot, feeling unsteady and a bit frail for once. I asked the gods for a sign and they send me a monstrous creature.

To say I felt confused wouldn't even cover it.

"Och! Where is this damn Arrow!" I bellowed. Angus whinnied and kicked a little, obviously a little nervous

"Its okay boy calm down!" I hushed him. His unexpected behaviour worried me; I turned to face him before an all too familiar sound seemed a little too close.

My whole body froze. Loud smooth flapping filled my ears as stiffly I turned my head to look above the tree line.

There in front of me a large black scaled beast hovered his eyes big and glowing, they sat in slits in the centre of each eye. Locked down on me.

I backed up slightly till Angus was in reach. The Beast seemed to stare into my eyes, right into my soul. I could feel my own light blue eyes gleaming with terror, and some how. I was in awe too

Terrified. Completely and utterly terrified and yet…

Amazed.

The beast was beautiful! Unlike anything I have ever seen before. His body work seemed so detailed, his ears pricked and pinned back like a warrior. And those eyes!

Eyes which bored into my soul.

Then all too soon the beast rumbled a loud growl and before breathing in and releasing what looked to be an electric charge on the ground where I stood.

With a gasp I hauled myself up onto Angus and took off far into the forest back to the kingdom.

Adrenaline pulsed through me as all my senses seemed to be on fire. I was terrified, but who wouldn't be, yet there was something deeper that stirred in me when that beast stared into my eyes, something which told me in an absolutely insane way, that this was right.

My decision to help the kingdom.

To Marry.

Would lead me to my fate.


	3. Berk

Hiccups POV

Berk..It's a quiet and quaint village situated between…

_CRASH! BANG! _

_CRASH!_

_CREAK!_

_**RAWWRR****!**_

"Toothless is awake then" I huffed throwing my legs over the side of my wooden bed. I looked down at my prosthetic leg, bouncing the metal up and down for a moment to catch my footing. Everything on my body creaked; my toes, my arms, my leg, my arms, neck.

Yawning I stood up and got changed into some clean clothes, after washing down with some cold water shivering as I did so, I looked up from the reflective glass near the water basin.

I had changed over the years; I had gotten much taller; nowhere near as tall as the rest of these Vikings though but taller, a little broader but not by much. I still was a poor excuse for a Viking, and now I was 18 finally. The time when I become a man, not like I hadn't proved myself enough to my father already by slaying the red death when I was 15 but somehow it seemed like my work was never done.

On cue the door to my home flew open and in walked my best friend; Toothless, His tail swishing from side to side in a fast motion as he bounced up and down impatiently.

"Hey bud, morning" I said walking down the make shift wooden stairs to the living room. The fire burned slightly making crackling noises in front of makeshift wooden furniture. The kitchen was to the right of the stairs small in size, but usually we ate in the great hall. My dad's room was further across from the living room while I slept upstairs, the whole of the top section of the cabin I had to myself.

"You hungry?" I asked as if I didn't already know, Toothless would never turn down a meal, never.

"Come on bud lets go get you some fish" I rubbed his snout while scratching behind his ear. He gave me a gummy smile before we headed outside.

The bright sunny light hit my eyes making them squint slightly.

The village seemed busy, shifting wheel barrows full of stuff, women carrying large trays into the great hall, streamers going up on houses. It all seemed a bit mad.

"What's going on Toothless?" I looked to him, his eyes just fleeting to the great hall where large trays of food were being carried. Across from my home a few others sat, there outside a few of them was Astrid and her dragon Stormfly, she seemed to be brushing her and cleaning her dragon's feet.

Once upon a time me and Astrid Dated for a short period of time, when we were younger, but since then things faded and we were just better off as friends. I wasn't even sure If I was in love with her, I was just unsure of what love was exactly.

I made my way over to her avoiding a large wheel barrow full ribbons and amour.

"Hey Astrid, what's going on?" I said making my way over to her eyeing up the docks now which had just come into sight.

"Hasn't your dad told you? We're getting visitors from the highlands, they want a treaty and they're holding some sort of games in honour or something." She said also watching the Docks. Boats were getting hauled in women and men scrubbing away at the sides of them.

"Wow they really want this treaty to happen" I mumbled

"Yeah, you'd be surprised, apparently your dad knows the king that's coming"

I looked to her in shock

"Really? How come he's never told me?" I looked towards the great hall knowing he'd be in there.

"Il see you later Astrid"

"See you round Hiccup" she went back to pulling something over Stormfly. She really wanted her to look regal.

Toothless wasn't stuck at my side anymore, he seemed to be following the women into the great hall some of them gasping and whooping as he dodged them to grab some food.

"Toothless!" I chasted, finding it slightly amusing as he nearly tackled Mrs Balderdash the town baker

I ran over trying to pull him back, she just laughed

"Och here you go your great brute" she smiled towards him tossing him a warm pastry.

"One for yersel, Hiccup?"

"Thanks Mrs Balderdash" I said taking the pastry from her taking a bite, the sugary cinnamon taste filled my mouth as I moaned and gave her the thumbs up; she just laughed and carried on walking into the great hall.

Following her and some others, I walked into the great hall.

"Dad?" I called trying to avoid the women covering tables and cleaning floors, polishing armoury, laying chairs out and setting up candles.

Must be some guests.

"Son! Over here!" I heard his gruff voice call from the back of the hall. Toothless seemed pretty content at the moment so I just let him be tossing him the rest of my breakfast.

The hall was covered in Green and red ribbons, a new crest hung from the ceiling next to our own. The tables arched round in a square U shape, the biggest chairs being sat in the center of the room behind the portraits of our great leaders.

"No no no try movin' it ter the left" My dad was saying his hands flying about in a nervous manner.

"Dad? What's going on exactly"

"Ah Hiccup! Just the Man a' wanted ter see" Now that shook me. I took a step back and narrowed my eyes.

"You feeling okay Dad?" I said trying to reach for his forehead; I was still a little too short, only reaching the same height as below his shoulders.

Like I said I had grown, just enough to pass as a man, but still no where near the 7ft and 8ft Viking men around me.

"Ah Hiccup behave yer sel, were havin' visiters!"

"Yes, yes I get that the Scots, the treaty I understand that but why the sudden fuss? Why now?"

My dad sighed a sigh which usually meant I was in trouble or I was going to be part of the trouble.

"Son, now that yer come of age, there's sumthan' we need to discuss" He clasped his hands together looking at me.

So I was going to be part of the trouble.

Great.

_Count me in._

"Come with me" He said as we walked out of the spectacular great hall, walked past the small houses and headed down to the cliff overlooking the dock. It was like looking at small ants from above up here

"Have a seat son" he said setting himself down on the cliffs edge.

We had done this many of times before, since the red death, father and son bonding had usually taken place here, so we could overlook the village; no responsibilities were held up here. It was just me and Dad.

I sat quietly looking at his face; his crusty complexion seemed distant looking out into the far waters.

"Son, there comes a time when sacrifice must be made within a tribe for the greater good of the clan"

"I get that Dad I literally lost a leg for the our village" I snorted kicking my prosthetic leg into some of the cliffs stone softly.

My father looked down and huffed

"You know were getting a treaty with the Scots right?"

"Yes I get that" I said rolling my hand in a way for him to signal to carry on.

"Well, we really need this to go ahead Hiccup, this could revolutionize our world, we'l gain more food, a larger civilization, more land if needed, a society set by rules hiccup, a far much stronger one than we've ever known. King Fergus, he's a good fellow too, he knows how well this needs to go. This is a good thing son. We can teach him about the dragons, see that there no' a threat... "

"How do you know King Fergus Dad?" I interrupted curiosity getting the better of me.

My Dad sighed and patted me on the back.

"Before you were born son, Fergus knew yer mother, he was her best friend. They use ta play together when they were younger then she moved here and Fergus took o'er the kingdom of Dunbroch, they use ta keep in touch, Fergus would bring his family o'er to see us every year once a year fer a week. I'm surprised yer don't remember?"

I thought hard, the recent news hit me like a brick, I couldn't really remember much, it was all foggy,

just the sight of flame red curly hair…

"They had a little girl, called her Merida, she use ta come o'er to play with yer. Aw yer used ta get so excited to see her" My dad chuckled obviously reminiscing.

I couldn't remember I tried but it was too much a distant memory, it was hazy way to distant for me to even reach.

"I don't remember Dad"

"Argh you would of only been about 3 o' 4 at the time"

"Soo if you knew them so well, why the need for the treaty? Can't we just agree?"

"Hiccup this is where formalities needto take place, when yer mother died, Fergus and I drifted apart, he was too much o' memory fer me, I thought it'd be best fer the distant fer ye too, besides when am gone and Fergus is gone, yer might not feel the same way about the next leader, so a signed binding treaty will keep the peace for many years"

"I still don't understand it dad" I said trying to pull the information out of him. I knew it involved me somehow.

"Hiccup. I mentioned they had er daughter" He looked at me then his eyes gentle.

"And this is relevant because?"

"I received a letter from them recently, sayin' that they were needin' help, and am not going to say no to friends. So I wrote them back sayin' whatever they had in mind I was open ter"

"Yeeahh sooo?" I continued, I did have to fly toothless out at some point today, and do some other stuff in the blacksmiths shop

"They have a tradition son, where the first born of the great leaders compete for their daughters hand in marriage, this would unite the clans and therefore with hold a peace treaty"

I went white.

My hands went sweaty.

My eyes wide.

I was clever enough to understand why the great celebration, why the sudden bustle and excitement.

Why the sudden father son bonding time.

"A..and you…you want me to…compete?" I said feeling sick.

He wants me To get married.

To a stranger.

"Yer the First born and am a great leader, two and two go together son."

"But you're the only leader we have here?!"

"desperate times call fer desperate measures, any Viking boy aged 18 can compete."

"So wait..haang on everyone else gets the choice… But me?! I'm forced into competing? For being born?!"

I froze in place.

"Nobody said yer gonna win hiccup, its just games ter see whos the best fit fer the princess. No dragons included"

"Oh so now not only am I going to humiliate myself in front of everyone in the village _again,_ but also these new comers"

"Well it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, if you remember hiccup there was a time people wanted to you be banished!" he laughed within his throat

"So I have to do this"

"Yep"

"And there's no getting out of this"

"Nope"

"So it's either humiliate myself or get married"

"No pressure" my dad smiled. "Now if yer excuse me, there's more decorations to be put up."  
And with that he was gone. I slumped back down and sat staring out to the sea.

"Toothless!" I yelled and in an instant he was there, finishing eating the rest of his fish, someone must of fed him.

"Come on boy were going on a long flight, I have to wrap my head around something..." I said saddling him up and pushing my metal foot into the holster getting a feel for it toothless dove off the cliff edge and bounded over the sea into the clouds and far away.


	4. Hit!

"And then he says No pressure?! No pressure! _No pressure_! I've either got to try and win this and end up married or I've got to fail completely and be humiliated! Its took me years for people to respect me and now it's all going to be smashed to pieces all because of a stupid tradition"

Toothless yawned, I could tell me wasn't remotely pleased about me ranting on at him about my latest problems, but marriage? Marriage for crying out loud!

A woman could be my wife and I have not a chance in the world to change that, however there was a very slim chance. Yes I had proved myself among my village, people counted on me but when it came to hand on hand combat and lifting heavy things I was useless!

I had tried to remember so hard what she looked like but that was over 14 years ago!

Would she recognise me?

Would I her?

I mean both humiliation and marriage were on par with each other at the minute. Because if I did win, then I would have to impress her and that would ultimately lead to more humiliation than when we first began.

What was I meant to do?!

I couldn't woo a girl, I was never able to woo Astrid and I liked her! I was just meant to stay single…and have my dragon by my side.

Id be the crazy Dragon keeper when I was older.

A Lonely, crazy dragon man.

"Urgh who am I kidding. I can't do this" I sighed twitching Toothless's saddle more making him dip down.

We had gone further out than ever before, they sky had darkened now and twitched with stars. We must have flown for hours!

"Argh toothless I'm sorry I didn't realise how long we've been flying, you hungry bud?"

Toothless made a grunted noise and shifted slightly before looking up out of the corner of his eye at me, sympathy wrote in them completely.

"At least you understand" I said patting his head "Where are we?" I wondered looking down to the trees underneath me.

This place was beautiful unlike anything I'd ever seen before, dark rich green trees grew tall along the sky line with towering mountains dipped with green land and snow. Waterfalls fell over some of the mountain cliffs, the water the most interesting blue I've ever seen. In some small places ways creating holes where from the sky, you could see small clearings like pocket holes into the forest, small streams ran in a few, in others just pastel grey rocks lay.

"Let's turn around bud I can see a river that might look good for fishing" I leaned over into Toothless ear

I pressed down on my control pad switching the fin around as Toothless croaned happily knowing he was about to be fed.

And then, Out of nowhere what so ever,

Something sharp had stuck its self into my arm.

"YYYYEEEEOOOWWW!" I screeched my hand instinctively reaching out for it. Toothless's left eye peered round to look at me in shock. Blood dripped out of my shirt staining it in a deep red.

And there buried in my arm, not too far in,

Sat a carved beech coloured wooden arrow.

My heart had sped up into overdrive, my senses seeming to match that of Toothless's Vision.

As for Toothless, his eyes had turned into large thin yellow slits and he wasted no time eyeing up his target.

"Woahh!" I called as toothless took us into a head dive, I could feel him shaking with anger. After all, I was his human and is protective instinct for me was overly powerful.

He seemed to locate something I couldn't see.

Stupid dragon night vision.

We hovered slightly as I quickly held tight onto my arm dying to see what toothless could see.

His growling had increased and his nostrils flared. He had a scent. With a few jerky movements on his end we approached a clearing head on.

Something moved stiffly in the shadows below. Something…or someone. I squinted trying to get a better look but it was no use. All the while my arm throbbing in pain.

However this seemed to be the opposite for Toothless as within a second he unleashed a loud very bright, very large plasma bolt, heading straight into the opening. With this limited lighting I had a quick chance to see what it was that hit me, but it was no luck, as soon as Toothless had released it, the object in question seemed to scurry away, and all I could see from here was a quick blur of flame red hair…

Toothless flew steady as he took me away from the trees and closer to the mountains peek. We rested on a cliff side not far from where I was shot. Here, one of the waterfalls that I had seen from the sky rested, allowing me to wash my shirt from any stained blood.

Toothless watched me with worried eyes. He seemed to be very cautious and yet alert all at once.

"Its okay bud, I just have to get this arrow out ad everything will be alright" I comforted him. Even in my hour of need, Toothless was the real one who needed to be taken care of. He was so protective of me and I him, sure he had others to look after him, but when I was injured or hurt like this, there was nothing anyone could do to help him. He only trusted and relied on my words. For a big strong beast, he was sure a softie inside.

I grasped the arrows head as close to my wound as possible and began to pull it softly. The pain that ran through my arm was excruciating. It felt like all my nerves had been cut as once, however the more I pulled gently, the more adrenaline ran through my body making me a little stronger. I knew I had to get this arrow out somehow. Even if it was going to be painful.

I pulled again and no luck, I pulled several more times managing to snip it out a tiny inch before revelling in pain when my skin was released. It ached when the open wound hit the air so much that I didn't think I could take pain. I would be knocked out before long if I kept pulling not to mention the blood loss I would suffer on the flight home. So I did what I though was best. I snapped the most of the arrow off leaving in just the tip of the end before washing it under the waterfall. The cooling water stung yet soothed me all at once. Numbing the area it was in. I grabbed a loose thread on my tunic and pulled it so that a small fraction came off fabric big enough to make a makeshift bandage tying it round my arm. The pain was still there but dulling slightly, as long as it was washed properly I knew that infection was a low risk. So I tied it up in my sleeve before looking at Toothless who just nudged at it.

"It's alright bud, It was just probably someone scared, you know like you were when you first met me"

Toothless huffed almost humorously

"Okay like I was of you when I first met you. Don't worry about it, maybe someone just thought you were a bird, I mean a pretty big bird but a bird none the less."

He looked alarmed and slightly offended by that. I scratched behind his ear with my good arm, then trying me left, it was sore to move but not totally painful.

"See? I'm fine buddy, now come on are you hungry or not?"

Once I had caught us both some fish I made a small fire which toothless happily lit. All too soon dinner was over as I sat propped up against Toothless who had managed to curl himself tightly around me and was currently sniffing my patch on my arm, it wasn't bleeding anymore thank god but neither the less id have the healer look at it when we got home. I twirled the arrow in my hand; someone had gone to a lot of care with these. The markings on them were hand carved, beautifully crafted and so smooth they hadn't even splintered when I snapped it in half. I kept hold of it running my fingers up and down it slowly feeling every indent and curve of the lines.

"Come on bud we better head home it's getting late" I said putting out the small fire and climbing onto the back of my best friend, we set for home.


	5. Journey Begins

Merida POV

"MUM! I'm no' wearin' tha'" I hissed at her, she had picked out a long blue gown, this time in a dark blue to bring out the brightness of my eyes she said, the fabric was soft and pretty in colour. But it stopped at the tip of my chin, with several frills up ad down the sleeves; shed even picked out a matching bonnet. I groaned and moaned at her telling her to let me pick something out.

We were in my bedroom; shed woke me up so early the sky was just turning from black to pink over the mountain tops. She barged up drew back my curtains and pulled my bed sheets off. Maudie my maid had already begun throwing clothes and sheets from my closet into bags sometimes questioning my mother about things

"If am gonnea do this mum, a' want it to be my way" I said to her going to my own wardrobe.

She seemed stumped there. Sighing she shook her head

"Okay Merida, but remember lady like clothes please, let's have nothin' revealing or manly and you will show me first yes?"

I was content with that making my way over to my own wardrobe. I wanted something that I would feel comfortable in and not stupid.

"And yer'l be wearing this corset young lady!" She said, I knew deep down that her intentions were right but undergarments hurt, terribly so.

"Oy" I threw my head in my hands and shook my head.

"Fine but am no' wearin nea bonnet! Deal?"

"Princesses don' make deals sweetea"

"Fine do we have an arrangement then?" I said putting heavy emphasis on the posh word using my best mimicking voice.

"As long as you pin some o' that hair down, yes".

That I could live with.

I walked over to the remaining contence of my wardrobe and rummaged around the coat hangers; there hung on one of them near the back was a royal blue dress, golden stitching rang up both sides and round the cufflinks of the arms. It was laced up at the back and with slight embroidery around the neckline, which hung the perfect amount for me instead of up to my chin. It was comfy fabric; silk and velvet in some places.

"This al' do" I said pulling it out and holding it up against me. It would go perfectly with my dark blue cape too

Since when did I become fashionable?

My mother didn't say much but simply laid the dress onto the bed before coming to stand behind me and pulling up my corset extremely tight.

"Mum I Cannae breath!" I coughed out as she slipped the dress over my head and began lacing the back of the ribbon up.

"This seems a lo' of fuss yano" I said to her she just sighed,

"I knoe Merida but don' yer want yer betrothed to see you and think yer the loveliest thing he's laid his eyes on?"

I hated to admit it but she did have a point. I needed to make an impression.

Not for myself but for my kingdom.

"Right let's get these knots out! Maudie! We've got a hell of a job on our hands!"

"_OW_!"

"Keep still were nearly done!" My mother chasted. It had been an hour or so later that my mother had managed to somehow tame my curls into a fashion and pin some of them back into a half up half down manor

"Maudie can you fetch me tha' case that's on my desk in my room?" I heard my mother ask. With a quick flutter of steps and the shut of the door we were on our own.

My mother continued to brush my hair while looking at me in the mirror.

"Im proud o' you, yer know, I know how difficult this mus' be" she said looking at me in the eyes within my mirror. Within them, I saw the look of longing and care. She might be a pain in my arse most of the time, but I still loved her, putting all our differences aside, she was still my mother.

"I understand how this can be very daunting, trust me when I was yer age and set ter marry yer father I nearly died off!" she laughed under her breath.

"But you love him mum, yer did as soon as yer laid yer eyes on 'I'm" I said looking back at her brown irises. She had so much experience with love.

And I had never even wanted to be in it before.

"Aye I know lass, but you dinnae think I wanted to turn and run? What I'm trying to say is..is I cannea believe how much yer grown up Merida, I mean me wee girl braving everything unknown to help the kingdom." She said it in utter disbelief and I could understand why, she began twirling something into my hair and then turned to my face adding slight dots of makeup where needed.

" I know that I promise yer freedom and I know that its gonnea be taken away in the next few years but...the way you've so graciously dealt with this, really shows me how much of a princess yer really are"

Tears welled up in her eyes and my own. Her head was now level with mine and she hugged my shoulders tight. Squeezing her eyes shut as she did.

"Here yer are my lady" Maudie had reappeared and gasped when she saw me

"Oh Merida, you look beautiful" I felt my cheeks blush

"Fit for Viking Maudie?" I chortled.

"Fit fer any man" She smiled.

My mother went to retrieve the black box Maudie had in her hand. Before passing her my 2 bags of luggage and asking her to take them down to the docking port. She came down to my height and sat on the stool next to mine.

"Here Merida, this was worn by my mother's mother, it's been passed down through generations. Leading its way to you"

I peered over into the box, there on a silver small chain dangled a round pendant with the Dunbroch crest on. Tiny intricate swirls and details wound round the entire shape.

I gazed down onto the beautiful thing.

"Mum..i dinnae know what ter say" I looked to her with adorning eyes.

"Well that makes a change" she laughed light-heartedly. I rolled my eyes at her before she took the chain and clipped it on around my neck.

"There's an old tradition where once you fall in love, yer beloved face can appear inside the locket as if by magic, this may very well lead yer to your own fate Merida, just believe in yer self dear" she said straightening me up and clipping around my cloak.

"Now chin up eyes straight and glide" She smiled before walking out of my room setting an example.

I looked around the room for what might be a very long time admiring every art work piece and furniture I had available. I crossed the room and picked up my bow and quiver, counting how many arrows I had since I lost one last night.

"A' guess il never know what happened to yer" I sighed looking out the window placing both my weapon pieces on my back.

As I grabbed Angus from the Stables, I slowly rode down to the docks taking in every single little detail I could, knowing when I came back, I would be bringing home a husband.

A shiver travelled down my spine unnaturally just as Angus whinnied,

"Its okay boy, yerl get yer sleeping pill when yer get on the boat to make the journey easier fer ye" I patted him.

The docks were busy, hustling and bustling with people here and there shipping carts and horses.

"Princess!" One of the stable boys called just as I dismounted Angus, I handed him his reins giving him a quick glance and hugged his nose.

"Be good yer daft horse" I called after him before I began looking for my father.

"Were already ter set sail yer majesty" One of our sailors called to my father

"Alright then, ready the masts" He nodded smiling.

"Merida yer taking yer bow?!" My mother shrieked.

"Mum yer know it goes where a' go" I huffed taking place next to my father as the masts went up and our rowers took their mark before chanting in unison as they pleated there rhythm with each other to keep the boat going at the same speed.

My father turned to look at me then mischief in his eyes, which soon vanished when he looked at me fully.

"Aw Merida, yer lookin' gorgeous me wee lady" he said smiling, proud emotion glimmering in his eyes. I sighed.

_I'm doing the right thing, I'm doing the right thing…_

"Thanks Dad" I smiled a sweet sad smile towards him before looking out into the ocean.

"Best get settled we have a long journey ahead of us lass"

I nodded before turning away leaning across the edge of the ship staring into the ocean.

I swear in the distance I could hear freedom beckoning back home.


	6. Sharing The Bond

Hiccups POV

The following morning seemed to be a blur, I got up having a quick wash and pulling a comb through my hair, before having a quick check on how my arm was healing, the pain had stopped slightly but the wood was still wedge firmly into my arm and there was no chance of getting it out today, for once Toothless had slept in, but I suppose after the long flight last night he should be flat out.

"Hiccup!" my father called. Dressing quickly, I hurried downstairs to see my father scrubbing at his large beard.

"err dad? You sure you're feeling right? You've never cleaned your beard before!" I narrowed my eyes at him while he just looked at me sternly.

"This is serious Hiccup, our guests will be coming today and we have a whole lot o' jobs to do before hand, have yer set up yer room son?" I squinted confused.

"My room? Why?"

"Och come on Hiccup where do yer think they'll be stayin'?"

"What, here? In my room?!" I said. Was he insane, suddenly he laughed slightly.

"Noooo!, the King and Queen are takin' the guest room with their three sons" I breathed out a whisp of air,

Thank Odin they wouldn't be sharing a room with me..

"Oh that's okay then, so I guess il just clean up incase.."

"And the princess will be sharin' wi' yer"

All of a sudden the same colour from my skin drained, the same feeling of lost entered my system, the same sweaty palms and spinning head and adrenaline rush of fear spread through me. Was he insane?!

"WHAT! why?! Dad that's a girl! In my room! What am I meana do with her!"

"Well if yer thinking of scoring points with the princess at night son I don't think her father would approve" My dad chuckled. I looked to him my eyes drooped and on par with each other giving him the "are you kidding me?" look

"I think I'm going to throw up" I croaked out sitting down putting my head between my legs.

"Och Hiccup! Don't be soo…you, she's a lovely lass, Fergus filled me in on what a missed, she's very similar ter yer, might rekindle yer friendship yer never know, it's only temporary, until we set her up a log cabin, were nearly half dun thanks, ter Gobber an' some of the others"

Its temporary I reminded myself. Only temporary… Maybe a few nights at the most until she got settled. My mind rushed to try and gain some understanding of why this was happening

"Does the King know she'l be sharing with me?!" I Breathed out, he'd have my head on a stick, id be sharing with the first born beloved daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor, I could literally feel the nervous vomit pilling up.

"Hiccup, it was his own idea, when yer two were younger yer used ter share a room together anyway, so itl just be like ol' times, I trust yer ter do the right thin' just try not to mess anything up, it's a big enuf' space up there son, you can easily share without havoc being caused. There's enough room fer two beds, and Toothless's Bed."

My eyes stared straight forward into the fire. This could either go terribly wrong or right within my favour; the only problem was I didn't know which was the right or wrong answer anymore.

"Well at least the king seems to like me"

"See? Yer helpin' out already son, now go to the smithy, Gobber's got ye some stuff ter help set up yer room."

With that I got up and left the room, both my legs shaking as I did so, as soon as I closed the front door of my home I looked round. Yes the chief of course had the largest home in the village, that was understandable, but to have a girl in the same room as me! Sleeping at night, breathing in the same air as I was, it was all a bit too much.

I made my way over to the blacksmiths slowly, needing the air in my lungs and needing the walk to think.

It was understandable. In a way, why all of this was happening to him, it made sense if he looked at it in his father's eyes, two people forced into this thing together to be staying under the same roof.

Maybe it was to make sure neither of us would run away. Now that would ruin the treaty

"Ah there he is! loves young dream" Gobber chortled. Laughing as he started to mend a hammer.

"Don't remind me." I groaned, before I plonked myself down on a stool opposite him, he put his hammer down and leaned against the machine.

"Wha'? yer mean ter tell me yer no' thrilled?" I looked to him with wide eyes

"Where would you get that from?" I asked bewildered

"Ah sorry lad, I thought yer would be, hav' yer seen er picture? She's a fair beauty if a der say so meself"

"But it's not just that, I mean if she's beautiful, she's beautiful but I have to compete in front of everyone and these guests in order to win her hand! What if I'm the only one who is up for it? I mean I'm not saying I am but.."

"Hiccup" Gobber said flatly, I ignored him and started to pace.

"But what if there's no other contenders, do I have to win by default? Does that me I have to marry her with or without these games? "

"Hiccup.."

"What if she takes one look at me and throws a fit, I mean I know that's a little stereotypical with her being a princess and all but"

"HICCUP! WILL YER STOP THA'!" I stopped pacing and flicked my head round to see Gobber. I frowned at him

"I know this is frustrating trust me, but its only Merida, yer used to play together Hiccup, and when yer see her, I'm sure youl know exactly what tea do, dea yer no' remember her at all?" He asked and I sighed burying my head in my hands, my left arm still a stinging as much as this morning.

"Honestly, I don't have a clue who she is, and now she's coming to stay with me, in my house in my room!"

"Ah yer lookin' at this all wrong, once everything is settled yer'l be fine, jus' don't judge a book by its cover, yer taught everyone here tha' with yer dragon, besides it might do Toothless some good to have a lady in his life" Now I was very confused, How could any of this benefit Toothless?

"I don't understand Gobber..Toothless is fine"

"Aye a' know lad but, but al dragons require mothers Hiccup, look around the Island, its where they go at Snoggletog to their families, They learn from their mothers; Toothless is the only one left of his kind, he has no family, fer all yer know he's still a young dragon and he bonds well with the females in this town, but it's almost like something's missing fer 'im when yer look inter his eyes, your all the family he's ever gonnea want that's fer sure, but can yea provide him the same care a motherly figure can? Can yer provide him the family unit he's never had?"

"This is just stupid, Toothless doesn't care about that stuff he likes flying and eating fish and being Toothless I was raised without a motherly figure and I've done fine haven't I?" I said a little stumped.

Deep down I knew what he was getting at, I was getting of age, and having a family would make me just that little bit happier. Of course I was content with just Toothless, he was my best friend and brother in arms, but I loved him deep down into his bones and back, Toothless had lived a tough life being the only one of his kind, just like I did before we found each other. What I wouldn't give to make him feel even more part of a family than what he already was. To have a mother, maybe not in a creepy weird way, but in a way that made toothless just that little bit less hostile to others, just that little bit happier too.

Gobber looked out of his shop window and sighed, "yerve been remarkable character Hiccup, but I think a lady friend will do yer good too. In all honesty"

I looked down to my work board. I had never thought of it this way, to be honest he had a point and if I was to go into these games all nervous and sweating like an idiot I would have no chance at this.

"Well I can't do anything right now, I need to see the princess first or at least try to remember her, I probably won't even win Gobber, so I don't know why I'm getting so frustrated over this"

"I dea" He said tilting his head to look at me straight on.

"I think deep down this is really important ter yer, yer might no' even know it yet, but yer will, now here yer go; this is all the stuff yerl be needing ter make yer room fit fer er princess" He winked hanging me a wheelbarrow full of wood.

I walked back over to my cabin home, Gobber's last words echoing in my mind. Did this really mean a lot to me? Could this be what is meant to happen? Written out by the gods of some sort? I shook my head trying to clear out. Gobber had a point; this seemed to matter an awfully big deal to me. It maybe terrified me to death, but somewhere deep down in the very cornered pit of my core; I knew that what I was doing was right.

"Hey bud, a little hand" I called to Toothless once I had entered my house. He seemed to stretch clawing at the floor as he did so, purring slightly.

"Well good afternoon" I said sarcastically, pulling the wheel barrow of wood up the stairs, failing slightly.

When Toothless seen me struggle, he lept up rushing to my side pulling me up by grabbing my shirt between his teeth and hoisting me up the stairs.

"Thanks bud, now we've got a lot of work to do" I said rubbing my hands together…

After a short while, I had managed to make another wooden bed and pushed it against the wall opposite my own, I threw the blankets Gobber had given me onto it and folded it as best as I could, Shifting round Toothless's, slate of bed in between both the new bed and mine and pushing it against the wall at the back of the room.

I had manage to make some candles holders with my carving knife so that it had some feminine elements on her side of the room, I had even turned a tree stump upside down in order for her to have a small table, to put her things on. While carving into some intricate spot Toothless came to sit down behind me, a confused expression on his face.

"We're having a guest bud, remember what I told you last night about the girl coming from the Highlands?" He purred in understanding still looking slightly confused in his eyes.

For a minute I stared back into them looking for a sign of what Gobber seen, I couldn't see it myself, not really. I just seen Toothless, the happy content Toothless. The dragon I'd known for Years.

"You understand right bud? A girls going to be staying with us a while, not for long just for a couple of days, maybe a week" He came over and ducked down his head near my lap.

"Toothless, do you ever feel like…like im not enough for you, like you need someone else there to take care of you?"

He crooned his head looking at me in the eyes huffing before shaking his head. I didn't fully believe it though. But it was too much a delicate matter.

"Come on Bud one more thing to do before we head down to the Docks to meet our guests." Even the Idea of all of this seemed frightening. What if she didn't like me? What if she didn't want to stay in the house with me? I hoisted a curtain between my side of the room and hers in order to give her privacy if she needed it.

_What if she just didn't want this in general?_

I shook my head clearing the thought inside of it, now wasn't the time to panic; after all they were arriving shortly.

I sat down on my side of the bed with Toothless sat in front.

"No matter what happens over the next couple of weeks bud, just remember you've always got me" I smiled a crocked smile towards him before he flashed me a gummy one back. We sat like that for a little while when suddenly the docking boats Horn bellowed.

They were here.

"Come on Toothless, let's go meet our guests" I swallowed nervously. Hesitantly, I stood up and made my way out of my house, I could feel the colour draining from my face already.

**Just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who has been following the story or favoring it! im soo pleased how quick people are liking the story, if you have any questions about my plot or story line don't hesitate to ask me! Thanks again!**

**K1m x**

**(DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BRAVE OR HTTYD)**


	7. First Sight Humiliations

The drums belted louder as Toothless as I got closer to the Docks, loud vibrating beats came from the fleet of armada ships 3 of them all stationed in our Docking area, the wind whipped my face slightly as I looked onto the scene below, everyone that was anyone had turned up to welcome the Scots. I had never seen Berk so united before, all as one gathering. It was hard to believe how everyone had thrived in inviting these people into our land before, strange almost.

From down below I heard the change of music into some strange sort of whining noise, very nasal and very cultured. "Stay here bud, it's too busy down there for you" I told him, of course Toothless protested, but he went along with it sitting down on the cliffs edge while I ran down it to reach the large crowd of people.

Many cheered as I pushed past the large group of people, some even shouting and jumping up and down. Finally I made my way to my dad who was stood with a large smile plastered on his face as we watched a long line of Scottish men and women get off the boat waving and smiling to others.

"This is it son, are yer excited?"

"Ecstatic" I murmured sarcastically

A small man appeared on the front of the boat standing as tall as he could raising one hand in the air to gain silence.

Suddenly all the music and drumming stopped, all the scots held to a still point and silence spread through the crowd.

The only noise that could have been heard was the sound of the waves crashing on the shore to our left.

"Presenting their Royal Highnesses, King Fergus and Queen Eleanor"

Music kicked up again and a roar of excitement spread through the crowd.

And then he appeared.

King Fergus. He had to be the King, dressed in cultured gear and with robes of green and blue colours thrown over his right hand shoulder. He was huge! So big and tall; about as big as my father. A large red moustache flicked off both of his rosy cheeks, Small crusty after shave beard rested on his large long chin.

His eyes travelled round looking everywhere the eye could see a smile playing on his lips.

Then his eyes met my fathers.

"STOIC!" He bellowed a heavy accent tearing the word in two syllables, my Dad smiled greatly in return before he moved quickly to hug the man.

"Ah Fergus, yer lookin' great!"

"Keepin' in shape all the time" Both men laughed loudly patting and slapping each other on the back

"And Elinor, my lady, yer looking as young and beautiful as ever" My dad took the women who stood next to Fergus's hand and kissed it.

The queen I thought to myself, she was so elegant, and exactly what a queen would look like. Long brown hair tied back in a gold ribbon with a tiara placed lightly on her head. Big brown eyes, that held wisdom and kindness.

"Aw Stoic always the charmer" she laughed her voice low and like smooth honey.

They made their way over to where I was stood then; I shifted slightly balancing my weight from foot to metal, breathing heavily.

"Is this yer son Stoic? My Hasn't he grown!" The large man laughed coming over and patting my back very harshly knocking the wind out of me.

"Nice ter see yer again 'iccup" He said holding out his large hand which engulfed mine in a handshake which shook my entire body.

"Dea yer rememba me laddie?" He asked his eyes piercing through my own.

I smilled crookedly and shook my head

"Sorry sir, I don't" I said shrugging honestly.

"Aw Fergus he was just a wee babae' when we las' seen 'im" His wife said coming over to place a kiss on my cheek. My cheeks flared red.

"Oh my, Hiccup what happened ter yer leg?" she gasped still holding onto my shoulder.

"It's a long story" I said nodding shyly

"One we'l get down ter at dinner" my dad said coming over to pat me on the back. All three of the adults smiled to each other when all of a sudden there was a loud clanging of metal and a crashing noise coming from the boat.

"Och them bloody boys o' mine! Boys! BOYS!" Eleanor turned to face the ship and there in front of the gateway were three small children all probably about the same size as my arm in length with curly red hair, all each identical to the rest. Each one tumbled over the other bringing a large set of plates flying with them.

"BBBOYYYYSS!" The king bellowed, his voice like thunder. All at once each of their heads, scurried round to face the king before they set their eyes on me.

Then in a rush of madness all three boys ran towards me there little legs seemed to be very fast for their size, before all three boys had clung themselves onto my metal leg and arm.

"Wow, look at his leg"

"That's cool"

"I want one"

"Ummm.. h..hi" I said shakily as the queen pulled two off them off my leg and the third hopped down.

"May I present three sons: Harris, Hubert and Hamish" Fergus said to me and my dad.

"Behave yerselves, yer cannea go climbin' on people yer don' know it's rude. Och where is that bloody girl Fergus?" Eleanor said her head tossing round to face the boat.

Suddenly, it felt like my stomach dropped.

"Merida! MERIDA! Come out here and meet out hosts!"

I stood frozen stiff, I think my father noticed as he glance sideways to me.

And then she was there, in one quick painless second she was there.

I could hear faintly the sounds of awe and soft gasps from people around me.

All of a sudden my nerves kicked into over drive and my heart sped up like lightening.

My god she was Pretty.

Long thick flame red hair that fell around her waist in a wild fashion, some of it clipped back to reveal her heart shaped face. Her eyes seemed to make her though, large blue eyes that were complimented by large black lashes fluttering as she looked around.

Her body was magnificent. She wasn't exactly what I would have called a text book princess, she stood tall, maybe around the height I was; her body voluptuous and curvy in the right places. She looked strong and poise. There seemed to be no grace about her, just a magnificent throbbing power that seemed to circle her. Of course others seemed to notice it too by the way she held her self.

She made her way over to her parents still looking round the island. Her pearly pink lips opened slightly in awe as she looked around. Light cinnamon coloured freckles danced over her rosy cheeks.

I gulped.

I tried to remember this girl, I really did try, my mind seemed to be throwing thing around trying to find the distant memory of her, but there was no luck. Only her hair was familiar

And then reality hit me; this girl was the girl I was meant to compete for.

I had all but given up already.

I couldn't impress her. How could I impress her?

I felt my cheeks burn red as she grew closer.

"Sorry mum a' was jus' checkin' up on Angus, its bin a long journey from 'im"

"Merida, this is chief Stoic, we'l be stayin' wi' him an' his son. You remember Hiccup don' yer?" Her father asked. Slowly she pulled her eye brows together tightly.

"Hiccup?" She asked her eyes meeting my own.

_Be cool. Just be cool, it's only a girl just be cool…_

"That's me" I smiled a half smile, my heart beat going into overdrive.

_So far so good..._

"I don't think a' do, sorry" She smiled at me, I just smiled back at her not really sure what to say

"I..it's okay, don't worry I don't remember you either"

_Good Hiccup. Toothless would be proud…_

"So wel be staying with yer then?" She asked her head tilting to the side. I was entering these games to compete for her hand.

And that's when I lost it, colour drained from my face, palms were sweating; the lot!

"I..made you a bed out of wood" I stuttered the words out regretfully. I inwardly cringed.

_Smooth Hiccup..real smooth…_

She let a little nervous giggle out then snorting slightly.

"Merida! A princess does nea Snort!" Her mother said sternly. Merida's cheeks flamed up.

"Well, now that introductions are over let's take you to our home and get yer settled in"

My dad and the King and Queen walked in front of me and Merida, her younger brothers trailing behind.

"So what do you think of Berk then?" I asked trying to break the ice and deep down trying to get rid of a lot of humiliation.

"It's pretty, small but quaint I guess, I hear yer have dragons here" she said her eyes soft yet curious.

Looking into them nearly made me loose my footing as I stumbled forward slightly.

"Oh Gods! Are yer alright?!" Merida called my metal foot stammering for a while as her hands reached out to touch my shoulders.

"Im fine sorry princess" I said quickly. Fire burned in my cheeks now. I breathed in making my self look taller and tried to walk differently.

"What were you saying about dragons?" I asked

_Nice one Hiccup, why don't you just get down on one knee now and see if shel throw herself into your manly arms…_

I was officially screwed.


	8. Celebrations

**Merida's POV**

Berk. It was Lovely to my entire surprise, definitely not what I imagined as a Vikings homeland. However the people here were huge; the average person at least being 7ft! So in a way it was slightly stereotypical. The houses here were all large and wooden with different carvings in different wood.

This one mahogany with a crest on the side of the door.

The next Birch wood with lines and squiggles carved into the roof.

It was exquisite, but my eyes were too busy trying to search for any sight of dragons. Apparently the people here had made peace with them but living in Scotland we hardly ever seen them. At least I hadn't.

We reached the chiefs house after an awkward walk up the hill. Sure my mother and father were content talking about memories and new events.

I walked with the chief's son, Hiccup. Who my mother had informed me, was my age. And the first born of a great leader…

_We all knew what that meant…_

The name was an understatement to seem the least, but I liked it; it was unique and suited him slightly. He seemed pretty clumsy with only the one leg. However he was tall, maybe about 6ft, nowhere near the height of these men but stiff tall enough for me to only reach the height of his shoulders.

He was soo strange! Especially for the chief's son, he wasn't bulky like all the others but he was rather broad around his shoulders, only a small amount of weight on him. His hair auburn and shaggy just falling to the edge of his neck and ears in a sweeping fashion.

And those eyes!

Emerald Green with slight specks of brown in them, unlike any I had seen before; light freckles danced underneath them. He was in his own way, a handsome boy.

I could tell he was nervous and if I was perfectly honest, so was I only I seemed to handle it a little better.

"Hiccup why don't yer show Merida where she'l be sleepin'" Stoic recommended.

Their house was big, nowhere near as big as Dunbroch castle, but big enough; the woodwork seemed very original and fur rugs covered the floor. A stair case shifted to the left which Hiccup started to walk up slowly.

"Sure thing Dad, er this way Princess" He said his eyes at the floor. I just wanted to look at them all day.

"Please yer dinnae hav ter call me tha'" I said rolling my eyes once we reached the top, my cheeks slightly flushed.

The room was lovely. Quite a warm feel to it because of the wood and some small candles that were around the room. A huge dark coloured curtain hung in the middle of the room, creating a barrier between the two beds; privacy.

"Oh" I breathed out in realisation. I was sharing a room with him.

I seemed to freeze slightly a little nervous but still excited to be here. I had never shared a room with a boy before, I couldn't believe my mother had agreed to it

"Yeah about the sleeping arrangements…I mean if you want…I..I can sleep on the couch downstairs."

"Hiccup, its fine don' worry about it" I smiled at him, his eyes reaching mine.

It was almost hard to look away.

_Almost._

"So which one o' these fine beds did yer make me?" I laughed, his cheeks flamed up with red.

"Erm, the one on the left" he said rubbing the back of his neck. I walked over to it and inspected it, walking round it and smiling as I did so.

"Lovely" I looked back to him before diving myself down onto the wood and shuffling my shoulders down into place.

"you…you like it then?" He said perking up a little and I nodded my head quickly.

"Thank yer very much" I said unclipping my cloak from around me and draping it on the floor.

"Och that's better" I said huffing and taking a deep breath.

**Hiccups POV**

She didn't act the way a normal princess did. It was strange, I could help but find myself watching her with interest, the way she just slumped and chucked herself about like a rag doll, even her clothes! She just threw them on the floor completely un-phased. I pulled my eyebrows together confused.

"Am no' gonnea bite yer know" She said smiling a little patting a spot on her bed for me to go and sit, shakily, I moved forward to sit with her while she looked round the room.

She reached into one of her bags and pulled out something in shiny wrapped material. Unwrapping up and taking a bite.

"Here yer want some?" she said snapping the light brown coloured food. I looked down to it and back at her.

"Its only chocolate yer silly boy, yer never seen chocolate before?" She asked laughing taking a bite. Suddenly her eyes went wide when I didn't respond.

"_Really?_! Are you meaning to tell me yer never tried some o' this?" I smiled crookedly and shook my head.

"Different cultures a suppose, well here, count this as a thank yer gift, fer being so creative" she looked at me sincerely. I took it from her hand and took a bite slowly.

"Oh Odin this is good!" I moaned looking back to her, it seemed to break the ice more than my trip up before did.

She just laughed and snorted a little

"A' told yer! A' cannea believe yer never tried it" she smiled towards me as we both sat there content chewing for a little while.

"Whats tha' if yer don' mind me askin'" She said pointing to the large round slate against the back wall.

"Err..That's..Well..Its complicated" I said breathing out. Her eyebrows pulled together. Luckily my father called from downstairs.

"Hiccup! Its time we headed o'er ter the hall" I sighed thanking my father for once. I was so unsure how to answer her questions relating to Toothless. He would probably be in Ravens point if I knew him right now. He didn't like crowds too much.

"Whats happening at the hall?" Merida turned to me.

"Were holding a feast in order to celebrate all of "this"" I put heavy emphasis on the last word. The princess looked down to the ground, liking very dis-hearted.

"Great fun" She said sarcastically. "Come on then, lead the way" she sounded flat as we headed down stairs…

I'd never seen the hall this full! The tables and chairs all had been rearranged like before into one huge square U shape, we sat at the back. I sat next to my father, who sat next to Fergus and then the queen and next to her Merida; Gobber who was sat on the other side of me leaned in to say quietly

"Told yer she was a beaut"

I shot him a look before turning to my cup and drinking my mead. God this was strong but I was going to need it if I was to get through the night.

"Welcome, friends, family, were here to celebrate the union between the Vikings and the Scots. It's a joyous time for all of us and tonight marks the start of a new era." Stoic stood tall addressing our people. I looked down to Merida who was circling her finger over the top of her cup.

Gobber noticed.

"Feeling the love yet Romeo" I turned to stare at him

"Are you just trying to rub it in or are you literally enjoying my pain?"

"A lil o' both" he nodded. I tuned into my father's speech then, trying to listen intently.

"As all of you know, there are terms of the treaty which involve our lovely princess guest here; in the next couple of month, we shall host the Scottish traditional suitor games, in which any male ages 18 or older may try and take part for the lovely Merida's hand in marriage. Some of yer have already decided and would like to present themselves as suitors." My father pointed to the middle of the hall where a small some of men were gathered.

The queen nudged Merida then and whispered something to which she rolled her eyes and sat up straight.

"I present my Son from the Lout Family, Snotlout strongest boy of his aged" Snotlout's father called his son stood looking like a right prat to which Gobber leaned in my ear and whispered

"Looks like 'er right divivie! She won' choose 'im"

"It's not her choice Gobber, it's whether or not someone wins" I told him to which he cringed and whistled inward shaking his head.

"The poor lassie"

"Presenting my son, the human Wikipedia; FISHLEGS!" and everyone clapped him in pity I think, myself included

"Must o' been forced inter this by his dad" Gobber mentioned, he seemed to be my running commentary of the suitors.

A good 15 minutes later and the respected fathers of the village had presented 4 suitors; Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, and Bucket, an older Viking who looked like he had no idea what he was volunteering for.

"And then o' course there's the last Suitor, he's my own son, heir to be the next chief o' Berk, who single handed, took down a night fury and trained it as his own; thus making peace with the dragons at the cost of his own limb"

Suddenly there was a loud burst of spitting noise coming from my left and a coughing noise

"Tha…that was YER!? YER DID THA?!" The princess shrieked at me, her eyes bewildered.

"MERIDA! MANNORS!" Her mother hissed. She stopped talking. but stared at me wide eyed.

Gobber leaned over laughing slightly.

"Yer winning" he gloated. I shot him a look of pure hatred

Silence filled the halls, a few coughs and small laughs coming from the rounded audience.

"As I was saying, I present my heir; Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third" I stood up slowly, before being pulled up the rest of the way by Gobber who yanked on my collar to make me stand straight.

I looked around my eyes wide and nervous. Some were applauding loudly while others simply looked on in disbelief.

"And now let the feasting begin!" That earned a loud cheer from everyone as cups banged together and plates were being tapped and prodded.

* * *

After a while music started to play and others chatted, from over here I could hear Merida getting scolded for shouting out. I simply brushed it off as my dad looked to me and winked.

I wasn't sure if this was a good thing or bad.

Half way through the celebrations King Fergus stood up and tapped his cup

"Just letting' all o' yer know how grateful me an' meh family are to be 'ere in yer humble village." He said patting my father on is back.

"Now I would like meh band to come in a play some music for all yer, but none o' this ol' bag pipe rubbish or royal formalities tonight, let's have some fun!" He clapped his hands together and some people at the back of the hall picked up instruments and began strumming away. Many people began tapping along to the hearty beat and stomping their feet. It was a very easy tune to enjoy.

My dad stood up and went over to the queen.

"Me lady, would yer like ter dance?" He asked to which she laughed and touched her collar bone before accepting and went down to the middle of the hall with my father. As others joined them then dancing around and around joyfully.

Others clanked mugs full of Mead fully enjoying the evening's entertainment. When the music changed to something a little more faster Merida's eyes seemed to light up looking at her father as he nodded before they made their way to the floor smiling.

People cleared out of their way as they began some sort of traditional Scottish dance Merida pulled her clip from the back of her hair, the wild curls flying in all directions along with her arms and feet kicking excitedly. He had laughed at her display.

He must have done this for her as I stared on smiling. I kicked my metal prosthetic sadly knowing I was just too clumsy to get up; not that I would of anyway.

After a few songs some people died down, and went for drinks. My father and Merida's parents moved over to great some of the respectable fathers and Suitors.

Merida stomped away from the scene and threw herself down in my dad's chair next to me. She picked up her own cup on the way and took some more gulps of it.

She looked me square on in the face as I just sat and smiled.

"So, Dragons?" She said sounding a little annoyed.

"Yeah erm about that.."

"Why dinnae yer tell me about tha'?!" she shrieked.

"I didn't think it was important!"

"Important? IMPORTANT?!" Im sleeping in the same room as yer fer crying out loud! That's extraordinary! _Yer trained a Night Fury fer crying out loud._ What der they look like? Are they big? Is that what happened wit' yer leg?! Did he eat it?"

I had to laugh at that, she just sat her eye brows pulled together. Gobber snickered before making an excuse and pulling away so that only Merida and I were left sitting. I watched him for a minute before he returned and placed a barrel of Mead behind us.

"Make sure yer keep yer lady friend and yer self-quenched" He winked. I couldn't understand, but when I looked at Merida filling her cup up and thanking Gobber. I understood.

I was slightly more confident when I had mead in me.

"It's a long story" I told her. But she just snorted

"We have all night 'iccup" she said before taking my cup and refilling it without hesitation.

Before placing it in my hand and raising it

"Cheers" She said smiling to which I clunked my drink with hers…

* * *

Much later on into the night, full of mead and food we were both talking confidently with each other. I had taken my vest off and rolled my sleeves up on my tunic, while she had pulled her hair to one side and rolled her own sleeves up too. The atmosphere had died down, music was still playing but softer and many Vikings and Scots had returned outside to their huts and sleeping places.

"No!" she shrieked as I told her the tale of my battle with the red death.

"Yeah! In all seriousness, if it weren't for toothless I would be dead!" My new found confidence disturbed me, yet intrigued me all at once. I had this girl playing out the palm of my hand, and if anything I found it hilarious yet exciting all at once. No sweaty palms, no nothing. It just felt like I had an old friend with me. And on some level I did.

She gasped again.

"No" she said again her expression like a small child's to a fairy story.

"Oh yeah, I owe my life to him!" I said raising my cup again.

"That's amazin'! 'iccup yer hal' ter let me see 'im"

"I was just thinking the same thing" I winked at her to which she brightened up.

"Excuse me Princess" A familiar voice called. She huffed and flung her head round to face whoever it was on an angle.

There stood in front of her was Snotlout, standing proud and trying to cast a charming smile

"Yeah?" she asked him slightly amused.

"I was wondering if I could escort you home, after all it's getting late and dark out there.."

"It's fine good sir, a' already have a' escort home" She said her hand finding my thigh and slapping it. Fire spread across my cheeks.

"Maybe next time" she said bitter sweetly as he nodded and ran off.

She turned to face me lifting her cup to her mouth.

"Och, Suitors…Marriage. I dinnae want any o' this yer know? I wanted freedom" She said nodding her head while taking a gulp.

"I turned ma mum inter a bear. Nothin' says I wannea be free than tha'" She said nodding. I gasped

"No!" I said my face scrunched up. I could tell this was the Mead talking now.

"Och yeah, she was 12ft tall"

"No!"

"Yes 'iccup she was!" she shrieked her eyes wide in a manner that said, "I know".

I snickered under my breath at her. But deep down I felt guilty; It wasn't my fault that I had to compete, but it wasn't entirely fair she be stripped of all shed known.

She yawned inwardly.

"Come on, we better head back, our parents headed back a long time ago, we'l have to be quiet." I told her shaking my head from side to side and pulling on my vest.

She stood up too making her way around all the chairs and onto the square cobbles of the center of the hall.

She stopped walking and spun to face me.

"How come yer dinnae dance tonight 'iccup?" She asked. I sighed and pointed down to my metal foot.

"I'm not the best co-ordinated cripple" I said sarcastically. She just smiled.

"Remind me ter teach yer sometime" She winked before we both walked out stumbling slightly and laughing as we did before we reached my home. We opened the door slowly laughing as we went 'shhing' each other as we went before we reached upstairs.

Both of us slumped onto our separate beds and let sleep and darkness succumb to us. Somewhere inside of me seemed to ignite within me that night. Something that warmed my body, and that had nothing to do with the strong tasting mead I had been drinking all night.

**Sorry for everyone whos getting alerts about this story, ive just corrected some of the stuff i made mistakes on :L thank you all sooo much for reading this and favouriting and following it and your reveiws are very special to me! :) id love to know what you all think about the story and your ideas of where it should go. I do have a very solid story line but id love to know if everythings coming across okay on your side of the story!**

**Many thanks again!**

**K1m x**


	9. Familiar Recognition

_Merida's POV_

_It was a sunny day in the village of Berk. I was down at a picnic with my parents and the Chief and his wife, Vallamarah. She was beautiful; even for a Viking. Long auburn hair tied down her back in a braid, and big huge brown bright eyes that glimmered as she looked towards me. I was 4 years old, running around as fast as my little legs could carry me squealing as I went._

"_Oh Merida, my love do calm down" my mother laughed as I jumped on her._

"_But Mommy, 'Iccups chasing me! He's a troll!" I laughed in delight as a very small very scrawny auburn haired boy ran out roaring at me with his hands separated into claw shapes._

_I giggled and ran off again in another direction hearing a laugh behind me. I slowed down when I reached a certain point and looked around the trees to see if he had found me._

_Then all of a sudden a loud roar came from behind me, making me squeal again._

_Little Hiccup laughed._

"_I told you, I was scary!" he goaded, sticking his tongue out at me. I looked down to my small hand them to find a little cut which had formed, due to me jumping when hiccup roared, causing me to prick my hand on a rose bush._

_My bottom lip pouted and tears filled my eyes. Small hiccup, looked shocked._

"_It's okay Mery, Il fix it!" he said rubbing it with his thumb and placing a small kiss there. I looked down at my hand to see that even though it still hurt; it had stopped bleeding._

"_My hero" I smiled towards him, kissing him on the cheek causing him to blush._

"_Hiccup! Merida! Dinner time!" Vallamarah called. _

_Hiccup took my hand in his and we walked back to where our parents sat._

"_Mery?" _

"_Yes 'iccup?"_

"_Il always be your hero, if you want" He said smiling a small childish grin as we finally made it back to the opening where our parents were…_

* * *

I woke with a groan. Everything on my body seemed to ache with stiffness; there was a slight throbbing sensation behind the back of my eyes. I rolled over slowly, staring at the ceiling; stretching slightly as I did so. When everything seemed to co-ordinate better, I sat up slowly, my eyes blinking at the light, thinking back to the dream I just had.

The curtain between mine and Hiccups bed was pulled across shielding me from his sight.

Hiccup…

Slowly, recognition filled my thoughts as I looked round the all too familiar room.

We did used to play together when we were little…

We played here. On Berk. Some memories were still hazy to me but some of the stuff I remembered. My father: chucking both of us up in the air and catching us on opposite arms. Hiccups mother: reading us to sleep. My mother singing to us when the thunderstorm hit…

I smiled to myself as I got out of bed groggily and stretched again, some of my bones cracking

I obviously wasn't used to the wooden bed yet.

I quickly changed into some fresh clothes while the curtain was closed before pulling my fingers through my wild hair; all the while thinking about what a joyous night I had.

A smile graced my face remembering hiccups story of his dragon.

"Morning Hic.." I said pulling back the curtain only to be cut off mid-sentence to find an empty bed with a rolled up sheet on it.

Confusion hit me; it must have been quite early, as through the window you could see the sun just peaking over the valley where the village was situated.

I yawned slightly gathering my cloak, bow and quiver in one hand before heading down the stairs"

"Morning Merida, did yer sleep well?" the chief asked poking the fire where he was cooking what must have been breakfast; my mother and father sat on the arm chair and the wooden couch drinking from cups.

"Yes I did thank yer; do yer kno' where Hiccups disappeared ter?" I asked confused.

"Och that lad, hes always up a' the brink o' dawn, him and tha' dragon o' his go flyin' when the sun comes up"

Excitement filled me. Hiccup had told me I could meet his dragon.

"Toothless, right?" I asked as hiccups father laughed

"Yes that's right, yer two got some talkin' goin' on last night" he said; his eyebrows raised. Blush spread across my cheeks for some reason.

"Der yer kno' where a' could find 'im?" I asked determination spreading through me like wild fire.

I was going to meet my first ever dragon.

"Yer best bet would be a' Ravens Point; its jus' past the smithy and through the woods, if yer keep to the path yer can't miss it" He told me as I took a mental note of the directions. I pulled on my cloak and quiver before glancing towards the door.

"Would yer like some breakfast before yer go?"

"No, il be fine thank yer though; I had a wonderful time las' night" I smiled towards him before heading out the door

"Be careful Merida" my mother called as the door swung shut behind me.

My horse Angus was already outside tied up to a pole that had just been placed there. He was happily feeding himself full of oats

"Good morning Angus, getting yer breakfast in, a' see" I said taking hold of his reins. He shook his mane and looked towards me.

"Come on boy, were off to find a dragon" I smiled towards him excited. Nervously, the horse whinnied but turned around so I could place myself onto his back.

"Let's go" I said clicking the reins, sending him into a gallop. I followed the chief's instructions perfectly, coming across a large dip in the ground which led me to what looked like Ravens point.

The area was lower down than the rest of the forest; a lake situated in the centre of the place with some small trees and plants in some places.

"This mus' be it Angus" I said jumping down from him and tying his rein to a tree branch. I fed him an apple and patted him on the side before turning to face the cliffs edge. The same familial feeling spread through me as I recognised the place vaguely.

"A've been 'ere before", I mumbled making my way down carefully from the large bolder rocks that created a path way.

The area itself was breath taking, the way the light hit the edge of the water making it glimmer seemed almost magical.

I started to walk round touching the side of the walls as I went, before something made a shuffling sound beneath my feet.

I looked down to see a black heptagonal scale, the deepest black I've ever seen, the feel of it was almost rubbery and _warm._

My eyes pulled together with confusion when all of a sudden I felt the source of heat touch my back.

And there stood behind me, with its shoulders tall and its body raised.

Were the large gleaming yellow eyes I had seen in my forest at home, the night before we left for Berk.


	10. Authors Note:UPDATE SOON!

**Sorry! il be updating soon, just a quick note for some of you wonderers- i had a comment from clio about the drinking thing- just to let you all know where i come from its 100% legal and totally forgot about other laws in other countries :L whoops! haha but just to let you know there probably will be some more small little mentions about the drink thing, sorry if its bothering anyone! **

**I hope your all enjoying the story and love hearing from you! Thanks ever so much for the support :) **

**Will be updating soon! **

**K1m x**


	11. Meeting

My body seemed to freeze for almost half a split second before the adrenaline kicked in and I backed up from the large creature.

Its growl contained the most venomous sound as is large paws crept towards me. I moved slightly faster now maybe travelling 5 or 6 meters away from it before my cloak got stuck under my feet and I tripped and fell backwards.

The animal sprung its shoulders forward while its head coiled ready for an attack. Its eyes found mine with a huge sense of fury before baring its teeth at me.

"Impossible" I gasped the air being knocked out of me, as my heart sprang into over load; it felt like it was going to beat out of my chest and I was sure enough if I didn't move quickly; It would be spilled out onto the floor before I could even scream.

I reached round quickly grabbing an arrow from my quiver and placing it on the bow, just as the animal lept for me, but it was too late. The beast had already pinned me to the ground sending my bow and arrow flying to the side and out of reach.

The animal looked down on me, glaring as it did so. And in those final moments I was so sure I was going to die.

I tried so hard to push myself as far down as possible away from the beast; my head tilting to the side as my eyes stayed on his.

I was going to die, everything inside my body felt alive; my nerves burned, my eyes twitched with the water that would never fall, my heart seemed to be stopping and starting every two seconds.

The animal reared back its head and opened its jaws breathing in deeply making a very loud whooshing sound

I was going to die. I was never going to get married. I was never going to meet Hiccups dragon. I was never going to see my mother or father or brothers again.

I would never see those handsome emerald eyes again.

Finally my body felt a sense of urgency as I screamed when the animal reached its point of aggression.

"TOOTHLESS NO!" a familiar voice bellowed. The voice; louder and stronger than I had ever heard before.

The animals head tilted away from me, making a soft purring sound towards the left of him.

"NO! she's a friend! She's a friend" the warm voice said; how good it was to hear that voice! Footsteps gained closer, but all I could do was stare at this beast on top of me.

My mind seemed to urge every fibre of my being to move, but I couldn't, as quick as the feeling came; it seemed disappeared again.

"Toothless, it's okay bud" The voice grew closer then and softer. He seemed to be soothing the animal.

Then a warm hand went around my wrist, finally freeing my paralysed body's will to move, my head moved slowly to face Hiccups comforting face.

His eyes were soft and not making contact with mine, all the time staying on the beast.

The beast hesitantly shifted its weight, its eyes finding mine again. A large growl left its throat before slowly; it backed away and off of me.

Within two seconds, Hiccup was leaning over me; putting his hand on my shoulder and pulling me up into a sitting position.

My eyes stayed forward on the beast.

"Impossible" I repeated slightly louder than before.

My brain seemed to wake up on cue as I looked forward to the animal which was now standing only a few feet away from Hiccup, its eyes dead set on me.

That beast, this huge black beautiful creature that had threatened my life only but a few short days ago, had found me. Again.

How was this possible, was it following me? Had it caught my scent? How?

"Merida? Merida, look at me? Are you okay?" Hiccups face danced about my vision for a short time before I felt a soft hand touch my cheek lightly.

I jumped at the contact. Pulling myself up onto my feet and pulling hiccups arm with me.

"Hiccup, what jus' happened?" I gasped heavily.

"Sorry he can be a little protective at times, it's not the first time he's thought a stranger was a threat"

My eyes flew to his in an instant, they were wide and wild.

"_He? ... Protective? …Of yer?" _I could mentally hear my voice rise in pitch as more questions peaked.

"Sure…remember I told you about Toothless" He said, his hand rising to where the beast stood.

Toothless. The name rang threw my mind alerting every memory I had of it.

Toothless; the heroic dragon. Toothless; hiccups best friend and companion.

Toothless; the night fury of berk.

Last of his kind.

"That's yer dragon" It was more of a statement than a question but he answered it with a nod anyway.

More breath rushed out of me, my head spinning.

And then, everything went black.

I woke up to the sound of running water. When my eyes opened they were hazy and blurred; distant colourful shapes and sounds were coming into focus. And then I felt something ice cold touch my forehead.

I sat up in a rush.

"Whoa, take it easy, you've hurt your head" Hiccup was in front of me, holding a swash cloth made of patches that was soaking wet. Il looked around trying to gain aspect of what was going on around me.

"What…happened?" I asked before my eyes caught hold of round yellow ones.

I froze again backing up slightly.

"Easy! Remember, it's Toothless; a friend" he said smiling slightly.

I watched as the dragon moved more towards Hiccup and sat down right behind its back.

There was something different about it, the way it held its self and the way its eyes looked into mine.

It seemed more…_friendly._

"Toothless" I remembered nodding. Suddenly feeling a sharp pain on the left side of my head.

I cringed inwardly.

"Yeah about that; sorry, he just took off, didn't give me any time to explain who you were" He shrugged handing me the cloth. I looked to him, unusually calm, almost putting all my faith behind his words.

"This is_ the_ Toothless, the same dragon from yer stories last night"

Hiccups hand reached out to touch the dragon proudly.

"The very same; don't worry he attacked me when we first met too" humour hidden under his tone.

My eyes found the dragon's in an instant, the same adrenaline rush returned but it wasn't from fear; my veins burned again, my heart powered up on cue, but fear didn't reach me.

"We've met before" I wasn't entirely sure who I was talking to since I kept staring deep into these huge round yellow eyes. This new feeling, this strange powerful feeling coursing through my veins, pulled me up onto my feet.

From my peripheral vision I could see Hiccups eyes being pulled together.

"How? Toothless can't go anywhere without me, and he wasn't around when we were younger; remember the story? His broken tail fin?"

I looked to Hiccup then; he was just as confused as I was.

"But he did; a' saw him, the other night at home in Dunbroch…_he was there_…" my mind spun into override before guilt kicked in.

"a' shot an arrow at him" I sighed looking to the floor. Guilt rode through me. From above I could hear the slight shuffling sound of feet.

"Wait… your saying that _you_ shot an arrow at Toothless?" Hiccups voice seemed to waver slightly as he came to stand in front of me. A growl echoed from the dragon.

"Well…yes but a' thought he was a bird, it was dark and a' was in the forest and a'…a' dinnae even know what a dragon looked like…besides _a' missed! _Look! there's not a scratch on him, he looks perfectly fine"

"Yeah, _he_ is" Hiccup looked at me with a glimmer of something in his eyes. An impossible look spread over his face.

"What…what do yer mean?" I asked my head tilting slightly. I had almost completely forgotten about the looming black scaled dragon until it huffed slightly staring me down. I tried to avoid its gaze which was currently burning a hole through my brain.

"You're a pretty good archer, I'l give you that" Hiccup said taking out the shattered remains of my beech arrow.

I gasped and grasped it in my hands. It had broken into 2 pieces, the head of it missing and the intricate designs tainted with red.

"What…how?" too many questions flooded my mind and then, suddenly, it all made sense.

"I hit yer, didn't a'?" I looked him square in the face then. Worry filled me, then angst, the more guilt. And then the strange feeling I had felt when I looked at Toothless's eyes.

This strange unmoving feeling like I could conquer the world.

And then in an awkward manor, Hiccup pulled off his tunic revealing his bare chest to which I blushed, and there pushed in his left arm, was a blood wound; a few inches deep by the looks of it.

"Yep" he said; he had clearly not thought the whole thing through as his cheeks darkened as well. I tried ignoring it as I moved closer, very slowly, to him to inspect it.

Toothless growled in return but I turned to him; looking him deep into his eyes and raised my hand.

"a' won't hurt him" I told the dragon who's eyes, in return, turn back to their huge yellow irises. Making a soft purring sound, that was almost concerning.

I reached Hiccups arm without another problem from Toothless.

I pressed my hand against it, feeling his skin burning hot; mine seemed to reach the same temperature in a deadly fast manor.

Slowly I raised my hand up to where the wound was, my fingers dancing round it carefully so that I couldn't cause any damage.

It looked like it was burning. The skin piece was red and turning slightly grey. Infection was at a low risk but that arrow head would need to come out

"So what's your diagnosis?" he smiled crookedly at me. I tried so desperately to avoid his eyes but it seemed impossible. They were just so mesmerizing.

"You…you erm…yer need ter get tha' arrow head out; a' could do it for yer, if yer want?" I said scolding myself deep down for being so nervous.

It was only Hiccup after all.

"If you..you know.._know _what you're doing"

I took hold of his arm in a stronger grip then and spun on my feet dragging him down to sit on the large boulder that I woke up next to. Toothless; as if on cue followed next to hiccup, the two of them sharing a look before I pushed hiccup down to sit.

I reached for the swash cloth and soaked it in the water by the lake.

I could feel two sets of eyes watching me as I did so.

"Now a' would be lyin' if a' dinnae say this isn't gonnea to sting" I warned hiccup; gently dotting the edges of the wound.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty brave, I can handle it" He said putting a mask over his pain. I rolled my eyes at him and looked to Toothless; he was watching me with care and…worry?

"am not going to hurt him; a' promise yer" I told the dragon sincerely; feeling completely mad for doing so.

I concentrated hard on the arrow head, using my nimble fingers to locate the edge of the arrow head without touching any of the open flesh wound.

"ready?" I looked at him; his eyes wide with fear but nodding none the less.

With a quick glance at Toothless I then proceeded to yank out the Arrow head in one quick smooth movement.

Hiccup collapsed in pain, rolling off the boulder and down in front of my feet. I closed my eyes inwardly cringing waiting for the growl that never came.

Slowly and steadily I opened my eyes to find the dragon standing in front of me; his eyes not harmful nor threatening but almost impatient and waiting.

I looked from toothless, to hiccups lying body moving slowly and smoothly till I was leaning over Hiccup.

His eyes were still closed and he was groaning. I couldn't help but laugh.

My eyes flickered over his bare chest for a moment; for a skinny Viking he wasn't so bad under the collar.

My mother would have my head if she found out what I was thinking. And _doing _for that matter.

"Hurt a little more than expected?" I asked him completely amused.

"Nope…just…a shock" he groan again pulling himself into a seating position. His left arm sat on the top of his knee which was now in front of his chest, his other leg curled underneath it.

His shaggy hair sat covering his face for a moment.

"It's okay, I know the pain; a've had many o' ma arrows hurtin' people; cannea' help it a' suppose, I was so much younger"

"You did this three days ago!" Hiccup breathed out, his eyes wide. I laughed a little as his response and moved sit next to his left arm; dabbing the wound that I had just opened.

"in ma favour; a' dinnae know tha' yer would be flying on a dragon; when I heard yer made peace with em, I thought maybe it was jus' like yer could be around them without them flaming up"

I heald the arrow head in my hand and looked down at it.

"It's a shame; that was such a lovely arrow" I sighed, my eyes filled with sadness.

"Yes such a shame I should have left it in my arm, all in one piece" Hiccups eyes rolled to meet mine; I laughed under my breath at his humour. Suddenly his eyes lit up and I smiled to him in return.

We sat like that for a few minutes until I realised what was happening.

I was sat in front of the chief's son; his chest bare as I swabbed his arm in wet cloth leaning close to him.

I coughed quickly as we both looked away from each other; trying to find anything other to look at.

"You are a good archer you know" He said his eyes looking down at the arrow.

"Yer lookin' a' the best in Dunbroch" I smirked a little; pleased with his reaction. One of his eye brows raised at me in suspition.

"Really?"

"A' never miss a single target" I nodded at him. Using the cloth which had washed his wound to tie around his arm as a bandage "There yer go, good as new".

That earned a pleasing growl from the large dragon which had moved to sit right next to me now.

I swallowed deeply.

"Its okay; just go with it" Hiccups told me carefully as I nodded and turned my eyes to face the large beast.

I stood up to face him, his eyes were not harmful; his stance not even worried as the dragon moved slowly towards me.

Hiccup had turned to stand next to me; pulling on his tunic as he did before taking hold of my hand.

I looked at him confused and tried to pull my hand away but he just shook his head at me

"Toothless; this is Merida; she's the girl who's going to be staying with us for a little while" He placed my hand over Toothless's snout; his eyes all the time staying on mine.

Then in a slow movement; I felt his warm scaly nose touch my hand.

Everything inside of me came loose within a second; the fear I held against this creature disappeared, the angst I had towards it seemed to fly away. There was nothing that had prepared me for this moment; not the feelings or power or even sense of it all. A shaky breath escaped me as Hiccup let go of my hand and I seemed to move more closely to the dragon.

My other hand found its cheek and pressed it gently there; Toothless purred in return obviously liking the contact it was being given.

I found myself smiling towards Toothless and in return gave me a gummy smile, there was no teeth like before; but suddenly I understood why Hiccup had thought of the name.

"Yer Brilliant" I said staring into these huge yellow eyes. "And very cute when yer no' mad" I laughed as he purred again leaning into my touch; I felt my heart swell.

I turned my attention to Hiccup after a while who was stood watching us with a gleam in his eyes and a small smile playing on his lips.

"Thank yer Hiccup" I whispered to him.

It was hard to notice; but I felt my heart swell just that little bit more knowing I was going to see his emerald eyes for a while.


	12. Revealing

Hiccups POV

We walked back to the village after a little more time in the cove. Merida seemed to immediately fall in love with Toothless; her eyes lit up like fire worms whenever he was near. The smile on her face was irreplaceable, so bright and full of life. Something that Gobber had said ran through my mind while watching them; the way Toothless had moved with her with ease; looking to her in a growing adorning way whenever she petted him or placed a hand near him. _Almost child-like_.

He seemed to love listening to her voice; maybe it was the accent but even when she laughed his tail swished quickly. I had never known him to be so besotted with someone. But I was glad; because if I was truly honest with myself.

He wasn't the only one happy to have her around.

"Yerl have ter show me how yer fly 'im" She said excitedly. Her horse walked beside her; she was feeding it something while stroking its mane

"Il take you sometime" I smiled at her happily. Her eyes grew wider and full of wonder

"Yer promise?"

"sure why not, as long as you show me how to ride a horse" I winked to her in a humorous way.

"I's a deal!" she said positively gleaming with excitement.

I felt quite proud of myself for once. I had managed to impress a girl and it was all thanks to Toothless; he was the best thing that had ever happened to me, he gave me this new found confidence and interesting persona; there was no way a girl like Merida would have wanted to spend time with me if it wasn't for him.

That thought sat in my head for a long time…

_Maybe she was only interested in me because of the dragons…_

I shook my head and tried to shake this horrible feeling of worry, last night we had sat talking all night without her wanting to run off and hide, we had played together when we were younger, even though I had no recollection of anything at all.

It was like a blank slate in my life, something I had blocked out, like a bad dream that had came and faded. But if that was anything to go on, I wanted to have nightmares.

I wanted to remember these play dates; it was a time before the bullies started, a time before I was cast aside. A time before my mother died.

And if Merida knew something about our time together, with or without my mother, surely that was something to go on. But taking all that aside, I tried to remember the girl as I did deeply want to know her, she was probably my first friend by the way my father spoke of her. This made me want to remember even more as back then, before the gang of bullies started and before I was deemed useless, Merida was in my life and she didn't judge me; maybe because she was too young or maybe because she had no choice but to play with me. Either way I was interested in remembering my little friend who liked me for who I was, not what I had done.

It was refreshing.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Merida laughed slightly as Toothless nudged my side, bringing me out of my day dream.

"Woah easy there bud" I chuckled as he continued to nudge himself into my side. He was clearly doing this to impress our new lady eyes skimmed to hers in a short second, those huge pools of blue beamed back at me, like the sunset on the meridian ocean. Toothless nudged me again, nearly causing me to loose my footing.

It seemed so unlikely that Toothless, the almighty night fury, would become so fearless in front of this girl. He seemed to admire her, but was wary in himself, this was understandable though since she nearly tore my arm off a few days ago.

I tried to let my mind mull over the coincidence of the situation when I was pulled out of my thoughts by Merida's Mother who had glided herself over to us in a sharp manor. She wasn't too phased by toothless since she had greeted him this morning with the King. The king seemed very excited by the whole idea of dragons and men working together while his wife seemed skeptical, only warming up to it when toothless decided to bow to her in a formal manor. Sometimes he was too smart for his own good.

"Merida! There yer are lady! Come along, the firs' game o' the suitor challenge is startin' soon; we mus' get yer ready! Look a' the state yer in! is tha' blood!" Merida's mothers rushed over to her in a very lady like manor hustling about something that seemed exciting.

Oh no…

Here it came again, the sweaty palms, the rush of red to my face; my throat gathered a lump in the side of it.

All this time I had spent with Merida and I had forgotten about the one thing that was essential…

I was to win her hand in marriage or be humiliated in front of my entire tribe.

I had never even thought of the lines that were so solidly in place between the two of us. Now they seemed bigger than ever.

The politics of our tribes.

Merida looked to me in a moment of flurry. She seemed to be realizing the same thing.

"Oh Hiccup dear, yer father and his friend ar' waitin' fer yer in the black smiths" Eleanor smiled sweetly to me as I nodded flatly, my eyes flinging to Merida.

"I guess il see yer in there" she said; her voice weak. Toothless nudged me again but in a different manor, bringing me to my senses.

"Yeah erm..I will" I smiled before Toothless turned to gently butt Merida on her side.

"Yer be good now yer here, il see yer later" she told him scrunching up her button nose at him.

He purred in content before turning to me and pushing me in the other direction.

My feet started to respond then as both of us ran to Gobber's shop. All the time panicking and sweating.

I thought I was going to pass out.

How could I forget the main reason why she was here?! It wasn't as if it was a leisurely visit she was making. This was serious business and nothing could stop it from happening. Tradition was important to our clans, nothing would or could stop it from happening. I had to compete, even though there were other tasks I would of happily replaced it for. I was a first born. This meant I had no choice in the matter.

Just like Merida; I remembered most of the night before, how she had told me she never wanted this. In my head I knew she was a smart girl and would do the right thing for her tribe. But In my heart I knew that she was too strong a character to be told what to do.

I watched as people scurried past me whispering and giggling in small groups, and wishing me good luck. Toothless followed close behind just watching them pass me by.

He seemed pretty oblivious to what was going on. It was understandable, how much could one night fury understand in all this political madness.

"Dad?" I called out as I strode into the smithy; he and Gobber came into view both leaning against a work bench.

"Ah son, there yer are; are ye already?"

"Ready for what dad? I didn't even know a game was taking place today" Time seemed to slip by me these past 24 hours.

"Och Hiccup, have yer had yer head in the clouds? Its yer firs' chance to impress the Princess" My dad turned away from me for a second before picking up my old Viking helmet and placing it on my head. The weight of it made my head push down slightly.

"Err Dad, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the strongest Viking around here"

"Well, yer still can stand a chance" He said, I looked to him in disbelief as he revealed in it himself. I just rolled my eyes

"yer hav' no choice Hiccup" He sighed as I nodded.

"Aye besides, yer been spending a little time wit' the lassie since she got 'ere, mus' mean somthan if she keeps comin' back for more of yer" Gobber winked at me smacking something heavy down onto the work bench. I huffed and looked to Toothless who had followed me to the door of the smithy and just sat looking in from the walkway.

"So since im being held against my will and forced to compete I might as well learn what I have to do; that way when I fail at least il know what I was meant to achieve" I said flatly, crossing my arms and leaning against the wooden shelf to the left.

"That's, the spirit!" Gobber cheered understanding my tone of sarcasm, my father who was completely oblivious just stood happily too.

"So what is this first task?"

"Ahh its easy this an, yer jus' need ter introduce yer sel to the princess formally and present 'er with a gift shown from yer talents."

"Great so why don't I just get Toothless here to throw up a fish in her lap?" I snorted leaning back.

"Och Hiccup use tha' brain o' yers. Now a've got ter go and seat Fergus and family within the stadium. Gobber, make sure he doesn't…yer know"

"Do somthin stupid, aye, a' gotcha"

And with a hard slap on my back my dad disappeared out of the door leaving me toothless and Gobber standing around in thought. I looked down to the floor shuffling my metal leg, lost in thought for a moment, I was unsure when the reality of the task at hand would hit me.

"So tell me about 'er then?" Gobber laughed under his breath

"What do you mean?" I asked my defences raising slightly.

"Yer like 'er don' yer, that why yer wearing tha' glum look; yer frightened yer not gonnea impress her"

"What?...No…I…I don't like her like that, I just met her! I'm more scared of not being able to offer her a gift _worth_ giving and embarrass myself in front of everyone"

"Well it would nea…"

"Wouldn't be the first time yeah I know, but these people look to me in a better light than before; I don't need that…that _shame _again"

"I get yer laddie, but wha's the worst tha; can go wrong? Jus' be yersel, its worked for yer before"

"Oh yeah because I have such a large existent love life, full of girls wanting to throw themselves into my arms" I rolled my eyes to which Gobber laughed.

"Ah Hiccup, yer have soo much ter learn. All yer gonnea do is tell her about yersel and hand her a gift before the challenge begins at dawn. It's not like yer hav' ter tear down mountains just to see 'er"

"I guess you're right, but what do I have to give her?" I asked.

"Well, yer in the smithy, think o' bout it, yer have the head start Hiccup, she has nea talked to any other suitors except yer, wha' does she like."

Suddenly something lit up in my mind, like a switch had flicked into motion. I pulled up a memory from a few days ago…trying desperately to remember those intricate details…

"I have an idea…Gobber do you have any beech wood?"

**Hello Guys, Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone whos liking the story and things, hope your all enjoying it id love to know what you all think, yes this is a joining chapter but the good stuff is coming up! promise! :) thanks fr being loyal readers and keep reviewing!**


	13. Introductions

**Merida's POV**

"Mum wi' yer jus' leave it!" I rasped. She was currently pulling my hair back into a braid which fell over my shoulder. Every tug felt like she was trying to rip my skin off of my skull.

"Ah Merida! Every princess has ter look lovely fer her suitor; we've been o'er this" She said as another lady came over and started to tie up my corset, pulling me in at the waist and accentuating my cleavage. My hand automatically flew to my chest in a gasp. I felt exposed, and I couldn't breathe! What was the point in these stupid undergarments?!

My mother had put me in a red dress with golden embroidery, it was floor length and laced up the back with a bow; it was very similar to my mother's green dress, in fact my hair was similar to her own too. Except the small tiara she had placed on my forehead and of course the different make up she had dotted my face with as well.

"Aww you look beautiful sweetea, now come along we mustn't be late" She said grabbing my hand and pulling me outside.

I could hear the faint vibrations of drumming and the loud whining of bag pipes as we grew nearer to the stadium; this was known as the dragon training academy; the purpose of it to help those understand dragons more and to keep them in order. I thought of hiccup again.

He had done this all by himself; the strange boy who struggled with walking normally had a lot of hidden meaning to him. He was clever, funny and had a wicked sense of humour.

I shook my head from the thought. I was here to be married to the sole person who would win the games. I had no choice; the treaty had been signed so I couldn't go back on my word. I couldn't say no.

My Head tried to agree with my calm feelings on this, but it seemed impossible for me to believe; I, Merida of Dunbroch was giving into my worst nightmare. But I couldn't help to feel a little exuberant about the fact I had asked for a sign from the gods, contemplating whether I was doing the right thing, which in a humorously wicked way had brought me to shooting my arrow into Hiccups arm in a completely coincidental manor.

I thought back to Hiccup from this morning, he was so powerful when he stood with toothless, this sense of aura he had amazed me. He had gone from being a clumsy lanky boy who impressed me with his wild stories of dragons and mystery, to being an authoritive figure when they stood together. Hiccup and Toothless relied on each other with a bond that was so strong, they literally needed each other. I didn't even feel intrusive towards them once the panic had settled in.

They made me feel something that I had never had before, it was a sense of family like no other, no royalties, and no rules, it was just us three.

I shook my head again trying to clear my thoughts. I had only known them all but five minutes. The mead must have gone straight to my head last night.

We walked towards the main passage way where people had parted on either side to wave and cheer us into the stadium. There, we were met by a Viking with one leg and one arm; I recognised him as Gobber, my mother and father had spoken to him previously and he had sat by Hiccup at dinner last night.

"Good Afternoon, princess" He said taking my hand in his large hands and placing a small kiss there; he was so easily likeable.

"A' don' think we've met formerly yet; 'Am Gobber, at yer service today." He winked to which I laughed slightly

"Thank yer, its lovely, ter meet yer" He smiled towards me in a warm way before he turned to my mother and greeted her with a kiss on her cheek.

"A' Mus say yer lookin' very beautiful girlie' got yer eye on a suitor" he said in a joking manor, I just blushed and laughed with him.

"Right, this way me ladies" He said taking my mother's arm and guided us through the growing crowd. Most cheered us, many smiled and held small children up to see over the larger Vikings, some even threw flowers in our way.

I was stunned by how much our people and the people of Berk wanted this to happen. If anything, it had only fuelled my energy to go along with these ridiculous games. I sighed under my breath feeling my heart beats gaining faster and faster as we walked around the stadium.

I looked down into the centre of the grey stone ring on my way round. It was huge! And it looked almost like a fighting arena, with large black gates and weapons which hung in the corner, huge wooden doors dominated the far side of the platform below. It worried me about what they stored in there.

"Ah there's me wee girl" My father bellowed coming over to me with a proud smile on his face. I weakly gave one back. We had reached a closed off area, where only a few Vikings and large over grown chairs sat. My father's muscled jaw relaxed on his face as he looked down onto me in an apologetic manor. At least he tried to understand.

"Och come on, yer getting presents today, yer should be happy" I rolled my eyes at him before looking at the chairs that had been laid out.

We had be put on a small wooden platform. 4 huge towering chairs covered in robes of Berk and Dunbroch rested over the back seats.

My father took a seat in the middle; one to which I'm sure the chief of berk would be sitting next to.

I stayed standing looking down into the ring as Stoic made his way over to us. He had started talking to my mother and father; all of them gushing with excitement like children. I sighed and went to stand at the edge of the black fence where the crowd had gathered.

The crowd had grown immensely; Berk seemed to be united with our own people and everyone seemed pleased about that. I felt a huge gulp in my throat knowing that it was because of my fate. I tried to look away for seconds but something had caught my eye.

I could feel my eyes widen and my heart literally stop as there, for the first time since I've been to berk; I noticed dragons around me.

One to my right stood over some people; it was huge, with large black claws and orangey red scales. Another to the left; It was very beautiful in colour and size, with spikes running down its back, tail and snout. Then there were tiny dragons playing just outside the stadium door; my sight from training as an archer had helped me view and hear at long range; I wasn't going to miss anything today. There as well sat my three younger brothers, obviously provoking the smaller dragons with wooden sticks, to which they tried to spit fire at them, all three of the boys laughed clearly enjoying the game.

I couldn't wrap my head around this place; people just stood next to these large beasts with no fear or no sign of regret. In fact some small children were hugging them and sitting on the dragons head to get a better view to which; the dragon seemed perfectly happy about.

I shook my head in disbelief; it was amazing to see and even be a part of this place was spectacular; no fear, no remorse. For Vikings, they were very much civilised people.

The drumming started up again; this time in a more royal manor to which my father and the chief sat down next to each other. My father took the seat next to me and placed a hand on my back slightly, he caught my eye sending me a wink before we turned to face my mother who had stood in front of the Arena. Her hand raised as Silence grew throughout the crowd and large trumpets bellowed 3 times in a royal manor.

"Greetings, Clan of Dunbroch and Clan of Berk!, We as a unit would like ter thank yer for yer hospitality and grace for such a lovely night las' night. May we keep the peace forever going" My mother smiled sweetly,

When it came to my mother; she was the expert at being queen. She just knew what to say and what to do in the right circumstances. She had taught me of course, but I was too much like my father to fully understand how to withhold a situation. I was clumsy and she was grace.

A small amount of respectable applause echoed through the crowd. I took a few deep breaths knowing I would be called up to the plate in a few moments.

"It is a special time we have together, when we come together to unite our families and friends, to redeem the treaty that fully belongs between our tribes. I am so very happy to announce the beginning of these games and may the best Viking win the hand of our fare maiden and claim their place in setting the treaty!"

Music and Cheers roared through the crowd again, bag pipes had spurred up to from places as My Father and the chief went to stand over by my mother, Gobber moved behind me then shifting into view slightly.

"She's very good" He told me nodding as I nodded too.

"Yes she is, can yer imagine her disappointment when a' popped out, She wanted a lady of grace, but she got the warrior from hell" I snickered to which he laughed.

"Am sure, yer be jus' fine, yer cannea be all tha' bad" He laughed I rolled my eyes at him and just sighed.

"Yer should come sit in on one of me princess, lessons, It's like watchin' a Donkey learnin' to be a cat"

He bellowed a laughed and smiled towards me.

"Yer humours similar to tha' of our 'iccups" I looked to him when he said his name. I inwardly cringed when I felt myself giggle slightly.

Taking myself out of my current state I coughed and breathed slightly. I looked to Gobber with questioning eyes.

"Are yer here ter take me down there?" I asked shyly

"Yer caught me" He said holding his hand and hammer up. My eyes caught it by accident.

I blushed realising I had stared a little too long.

"Sorry"

"Och don' yer worry, yer ain't the first and yer won't be the last" he said pointing to his leg too. It had shown a real sense of forgiveness in his tone, it made me wonder…

"Can a' ask how it happened?" I didn't want to intrude, but my curiosity had got the better of me.

"Dragon raid, Don' get me wrong, I love havin' the buggers around now, but back when we were at war with them, they gobbled some of me up" He chuckled as I smiled sweetly to him.

"Mus' of been a tasty dish" I joked to which he winked. I hadn't been paying attention to what was going on around me as suddenly I was struck by loud trumpets again as my mother had just turned with her hand extended out towards me. A loud cheer bellowed through the crowd again as Gobber leaned round me.

"A' thin' that's yer cue Princess" Gobber said holding his arm out. I looked to my mother in that moment then back to Gobber who was smiling, I cleared my head trying to grasp the reality of the situation before moving myself out of the chair and to put my own arm around Gobber's.

Music still played and the cheers went on but they seemed dull in my head. I focused on the staircase in front of me which led me down into the arena, my legs felt like jelly, shaking like mad as my heart hammered in my chest.

Everyone's eyes were on me. Taking a few more deep breaths I made my way down onto the middle of the arena, in front of me stood the large gateway where I had seen my younger brothers playing with the dragons; this had been cleared in order to make a pathway and covered in a red material right down to where I was standing.

I felt so alone in those moments; reality hit me in one large swoop. I was a princess, here to unite two tribes together. In one swift moment everything seemed to make sense. My father's pleas, my mother's insistent, agonising lessons on grace and formality. It wasn't to prepare me for marriage. It was to prepare me for this: the heavy duty of our political war fare.

I could understand they weren't marrying me off, they were expanding our civilisation.

I could feel my head spinning and the earth moving beneath my feet. I was terrified which shocked me at most. And then suddenly, I felt someone move around me, my eyes whipped around to see my father standing there with his hand on my shoulder, as a support.

"Come on Girlie, let's see what yer got ter marry." He chuckled throwing a wink my way. I looked next to him to see Gobber had disappeared slowly sauntering off behind me out of sight, leaving my father and myself stood together.

I looked to him and smiled before turning to face the entrance.

"Pull yer self together" I mumbled to quiet for anyone to hear as I took a heavy breath and tried to focus on just meeting the men. It wasn't as if I were to move mountains in a day.

Fernier, our royal caller, came into view on the left side of the stadium, his small body whipped forwards with his nose held high in the air.

"Presenting the first suitor and there guardian for the games: SNOTLOUT JORGESON AND SPITLOUT JORGESON!" Fernier had put heavy emphasis on their names pronouncing the T with a sharp noise before he propped his hands behind his back and turned to face the gate.

And then in walked the first suitor; he drooled with over confidence, waving to the crowd in a masculine way. He was tall, with thick black hair and a strong set jaw, his eyes said it all when he grew closer; he thought he could win this easily, hands down. Defeat was not an option for him, which frightened me immensely.

His guardian was surprisingly, no better. The old traditions state that with these games every suitor must have a guardian to help them solve tasks before and after they begin. They were never allowed to be involved heavily within these games; but they would certainly help prepare the young lads, usually it came in the form of their father or uncles. Which is why I could understand these two men acted so similar. The apple didn't fall far from the tree in this case.

I rolled my eyes and felt my father groan softly next to me. He moved closer to me, shifting from one foot to the other in order to make some comments about the men.

"A' wonder what he does to make his hair flow so freely" He said watching it bounce up and down. I tried to hold in a bubble of laughter swallowing it down, realising this guy was only inches away now.

"Your majesty" Snotlout bowed, his black hair falling forward causing a small giggle to escape my mouth. Luckily no one had noticed apart from my father who just smiled.

He stood back up and grinned like a Cheshire cat, there was too much confidence and too much poise to him; he certainly couldn't rule at kingdom or a village. He held his own hand out to me to which hesitantly I placed my own in his; he kissed it slowly, making me feel a little sick.

"Your majesty, it's a pleasure to introduce my son to you today" Spitlout turned to me smiling slightly; I noticed his hand on his sons shoulder very tightly. He seemed all too eager to let his son compete in these games. Must have been a tough family.

"Well…Thank yer" I said awkwardly and a little stiffly as both large Vikings stared at me smiling.

"May I present you my gift" Snotlout said placing an oddly looking shape of silky material into my hands. I held it up into the air.

"It's a bonnet" I said flatly, trying to keep my tone normal. Snotlout and Spitlout looked incredibly pleased with themselves. What were they thinking?!

"I thought you could wear it sometime, to shield your pretty head out of the sun" He winked as my face drained of all colour.

I had to remember that this clan didn't know I wasn't your typical princess who loved clothes and shoes and gifts alike.

I breathed slow, trying to ignore my father who was nearly bellowing with laughter at the gift. I looked down to the white silken bonnet, swallowing a gulp in my throat I turned to smile at them.

"Well… thank yer very much, A'…A' look forward ter seeing you again" I said smiling in a sickly sweet manor towards them as Both men bowed again and Snotlout placed another slow kiss on my hand. I pulled it away sharply before both men turned and retreated out the arena, waving as they did so.

"Well wasn't he a lovely thin'" my father breathed out sarcastically, I snorted under my breath before kicking my foot slightly.

"Yes, cannea wait to meet the rest o' them"

"Don' yer worry girl, there's always a good one out of the bunch" I rolled my eyes and turned to look at him.

"Yer said tha' the last time" I sighed.

* * *

We continued to be greeted by a few other suitors as the hour dragged on. There was a big lad named fish legs was very smart and presented me a book on dragons he had written, I was touched that he made such an effort, and seemed like a very interesting character. Some others weren't so pleasing, like the older Viking named bucket, he presented me with…well a bucket and a sheep.

Many suitors came and presented gifts and stories alike but all I could think about was how my legs ached and how my back was slowly slouching with pain. I took a few deep breaths and handed my father Tuffnut's gift of apples and mead which he had grown from his father's land. Angus would enjoy those apples later…

I turned to face Fernier, who had raised a horn to his mouth for the 5th time today, it surprised me the poise he had kept throughout the entire day not once had he stretched or yawned or shuffled. He was completely dedicated to his job; I felt a slight pinch of jealousy sink into me

"Presenting the final Suitor for the games: the first born of Chief Stoic the vast and His guardian of the games: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third and Gobber!"

The crowd roared again. I felt myself look up in excitement my eyes dancing around the gateway waiting to see him. _How could I forget about Hiccup?_ I felt a sudden energy travel through me, alerting me and my body, almost like an adrenaline kick. My legs stopped aching and my back stood straight. A smile spread across my face and out of the corner of my eye, I could see my dad eyebrow raised.

"Oh yer like this one der yer" I looked towards him and rolled my eyes.

"Its jus' nice ter see a familiar face is all" I told him sighing, partly I was scolding myself.

It was only Hiccup.

My lovely, little hero, Hiccup…

**Hiccups POV**

"Why do I have to wear this again?" I asked Gobber as he rushed about me like putting armour in certain places, and had shined my prosthetic leg.

"Well, yer wannea be impressive, we can't have yer runnin around wearin, nothan fancy." I huffed. I looked down to the armour that I was wearing; solid dark shoulder pads with leather strands that slung tightly from one shoulder to the other, some travelled down my legs stopping by my prosthetic and knee. Heavy armoured cufflinks travelled up to my elbow in length completed the ensemble, every piece of armour was coloured in a very deep black and some made of what looked to be expensive leather. I moved my shaggy hair out of my eyes and stretched; everything made a deep clunking noise, but I just ignore it. It made me seem a little more…regal, I suppose.

"Yer got yer gift? yer up soon laddie" Gobber said, he found me once he had walked the princess down to her place in the stadium filling me in slightly on what they were talking about. He just chuckled mentioning she was a good catch, again I groaned.

"What did yer get her anyway?" He asked as he tightened my leather shoulder strap and began tapping my leg; I would of questioned him on what he was doing acting so hygienic if it wasn't for the other suitors that were stood around me, their fathers and guardians seemed to be scrubbing them up; I was sure out of the corner of my eye I had seen Spitelout shove slender stones under Snotlout's arms making them look more muscular. I cringed and sighed slightly.

"That's…well… that's a secret, you'll just have to wait and see" I answered Gobber to which he looked worried.

"For once will you trust me?" Gobber shook his head slightly and smiled a little

"Hiccup, If a were ter lay me life down in yer hands; lets jus say I would take extra precautions before a did it" I rolled my eyes at him

"So revolutionising our people has done nothing to make you trust me?" I asked slightly smug

"Oh…no no no if it came ter dragons or ter solve a big problem you'd be the firs' Viking id send, but in combat one o' one wit' someone, I'd make sure I kept a weapon fer me self."

He did have a point there.

Suddenly i felt a slight knock on my shoulder pad. I looked left to see astrid stood there smirking.

"Looking good, lover boy" she chuckled to which i rolled my eyes

"Not you too! please i dont think i could take anymore goading today" i groaned rubbing my neck

"Aww come on, i think its sweet; you should of seen her face when Snotlout went up, youd of thought someone had spat in her face when he handed her his gift."

I swallowed incredibly worried.

"Youl be fine, just be your self, you want to impress her don't you?" Astrid winked clunking my shoulder again with her fist slightly. Through out all this commotion; I was glad she was still my friend; it was easier to understand women having Astrid around; and having her around as a friend made me feel incredibly lucky to have her in my life.

"Yer up next laddie, are yer sure yer gifts gonnea be good?" He asked as others came out the arena looking very pleased with themselves. Especially Snotlout and Spitelout who clunked heads with each other before sending a sarcastic _good luck_ my way.

"I better be getting back up to the stall with my family, wel all be watching soo, good luck!" She said turning and jogging back into the arena. I breathed out slightly trying to gather my energy.

My thoughts wandered to Merida's gift then, knowing I had a slight upper advantage on the whole situation; For one, I knew she didn't like Snotlout which for some reason, relaxed me and secondly, I knew what she liked and I understood her pain. She was similar to me in a way, to which Gobber had kept telling me.

Somewhere inside my mind I had tried to make sense of why I had put so much effort into succeeding with today, in my conscious mind I knew it was because my father wouldn't want me to fail, and just underneath that part of my consciousness I felt the need to prove myself to my people, which was fueling my want to succeed. And then underneath that, drifting in and out of my consciousness was that I actually wanted to please Merida, I really did want to impress her; I wanted her friendship and in return I hoped she wanted mine.

"Come on laddie, yer up!" Gobber said pulling on my arm as we moved into view.

I was completely unprepared for the scene as I entered the large stadium. The noise blew me away to begin with, large screams and whistles filled my eyes as the light hit my eyes from inside the stadium. Gobber hobbled beside me looking round too, but he seemed pretty use to it, only gesturing to me to close my mouth. I couldn't make out any faces or any person that I knew, I had never seen Berk so alive before, even though I had seen these people before all walking around the island in some places and I had witnessed the same crowd take place at the docks; looking up at them like this was simply…well, terrifying, usually to face a crowd like this I would have had toothless by my side, but since this was a traditional affair, no dragons were aloud, so he was busy taking a nap on the waters peak cliff edge enjoying the sunshine while he had the chance.

Facing it alone was really something.

As I continued to move forward looking round the arena, I caught my father's eye to which he pointed to my face and made a grin, guessing he was telling me to smile, I tried a toothy grin to the people around looking back to my father who put his head into his hand and shook his head, thankfully I could see him smiling slightly.

I dropped my grin and took a deep breath turning my eyes to the centre of the stadium where I knew she would be stood.

Again she was prepared to perfection, in a lovely red dress and with not a hair out of place impossible as it was to believe. I inwardly laughed at how ironic I found it that this girl could be so clumsy and wild, yet she would look like a complete lady. She stood next to her father who was looking to her with a small smile gracing his face, his big eyes pulled together in confusion.

I looked towards her face then which surprisingly was focused on my own. She grinned widely, her eyes lifting up in the corners.

My stomach dropped in a way it never had before and instead of feeling sweaty and nervous, I felt this rush of exhilaration running through my system. Without warning my own smile matched hers and I felt myself quicken my pace slightly. I swallowed deeply when I heard Gobber laugh under his breath. We had reached the pair within a matter of seconds, and then I stood looking upon her smiling away. Just staring into those icy blue orbs...

And then I felt it coming back to me, the reality peaking scaring me stiff; she was here, as lovely as ever, and here I was competing for her. For once my emotions strangled into a strange sensation of guilt; she didn't want this, and here I was basically rubbing it in her face.

But she looked happy; she seemed perfectly content right now. I blamed my hormones for all my confusion. One moment my head was on fire with my entire body shaking and squirming, the next I was taking a trip down sad ridden lane.

"Princess" Gobber smiled bowing his head slightly; she seemed to shake out of her gaze on me and swallow quickly. With a quick breath out she answered him.

"Och Gobber, yer know yer can jus' call me Merida" She smiled warmly. He chuckled slightly and winked.

Her eyes returned to mine as I all but willed myself to say something.

"Princess" I repeated smiling to her, I could tell she wasn't too pleased. All at once I felt my stomach twist and a lump grow in my throat.

"S..sorry, formalities you know" I told her with a guilty look spread on my face, her eyes dropped and she nodded

"A…a understand" she said softly.

"So do I" I mumbled out instantly regretting it; but then she looked back to me and gave a small shy smile. We were both sacrificing a lot for our tribes, she understood that as much as I did and it was almost nice to consider I had someone who knew the feelings

Although I doubt that she would be feeling some of the feelings I had been.

"Here" I smiled " I present my gift of the princesses choice" I smirked, her saddened face turned into one of excitement and wonder. Her eyebrows pulled together as she tilted her head questioning me.

I pulled out the cloth covered gift from my back pocket on my leather belt. I had made it by hand, knowing she would appreciate the gesture.

Her face fell flat as her eyes skitted to her fathers for a second as he pursed his lips together his cheeks curving up into what looked like a stifled laugh.

"A…a handkerchief. Well… thank yer Hiccup" She said reaching for it, I moved my hand away slowly meeting her eyes once again.

"What are yer.."

"Just hang on, look" I told her lifting the cloth up and away from the wrapped object. I could literally see her heart stop in her eyes.

"Hic…Hiccup" She said in astonishment. Her father leaned over looking rather impressed too.

"Yer quite the carver aint yer son, well done" Fergus spoke in his raspy voice, sounding as impressed as Merida.

In my hands sat a Carved Beech Wood arrow. Intricate carvings of swirls and lines fell all over the middle of the shaft, On one side of the tip of the point I had carved in her initial "M" and on the other a had carved a very small noticeable figure.

Gobber looked to me confused, leaning round to wisper in my ear quietly.

"Wha' is a princess meana do wit' a arrow" I just smirked to him.

"I heard you're the best archer in Dunbroch, and since you lost an arrow I thought this would be special for you" I shrugged.

Carefully she picked up the arrow between her delicate fingers, her hand grazing mine slightly as Goosebumps covered the side of me.

"How…how did yer even?" She asked me her eyes meeting mine again. Water glazed them slightly.

"Merida, as much as A' hate ter interrupt yer, yer mothers watchin' so remember ter no' overreact" Fergus told his daughter as she straightened herself out of her mood and swallowed deeply before composing herself.

"Thank yer, Hiccup fer yer lovely gift" She said in a formal manor, but I could see the questions she had bubbling to the surface.

She bowed her head slightly to which I copied. Before I turned to go stand with the other suitors which were making their way back into the stadium, Fergus had reached me in a very sly motion almost to hide his actions

"Don' worry laddie, am sure Merida will wannea find out more about yer gift later; well done for it" He said before he held his arm out to Merida and Lead her back to her seat; the arrow I made clung to her hand while her father carried the other gifts. From a distance I was so sure I could of seen him say the words

"A told yer" To her to which she blushed slightly looking back to where I was stood.

**Please please review! Dying to know what you all think! I promise things will start getting more exciting soon, I do have BIG plans for this Story! Thank you for reading!**

**Love K1m xx**


	14. Airborne Illness

The audience roared to life again awakening me from my thoughts as I looked round to see I was joined by the other suitors who all stood with their guardians round in a line.

Drums pelted the air ushering everyone to life as The Queen came into view, her face much more regal than I could have prepared myself and with one quick wisp of her hand; the entire stadium ceased to a silence.

"The formal introductions are now o'er; thank you to our lovely suitors for attending today's presentation." Again this was expected from the queen, but my eyes travelled past her to Merida who took her seat on the left, I could see her being heavily focused in something in her hands smiling as she did so. Pride seemed to burst within me.

"And so, with the following of the Introductions comes the firs' task" Queen Eleanor moved slightly her hand placed on top of the other one as she spoke softly yet strong to the people. Her face moved to view each of ours, I looked to Fishlegs, to Tuffnut whose eyes remained fixed on the Queen to Bucket who was being…well, Bucket, to Snotlout who looked to me mouthing something that I could almost make out like...

"Your dead" Gobber murmured the words that Snotlout mouthed, looking with me towards the Louts.

"Gobber!" I hissed at him to which he shrugged

"Wha'?! don yer go shootin' the messenger!"

I looked back to Gobber with a worried look. He just shrugged

"Ah, he mus' have a thin' fer the princess" He said nonchalant. My eyebrows pulled together then looking to the ground, I wasn't too sure how I felt about that.

If I was honest I didn't know how I felt about the whole situation going on; but I found it much easier to just forget about the end of these games and concentrate on not making a fool of myself.

I turned my attention back to the queen listening intently.

"The suitors first task is a tough one, this is ter rule out the weak and the senseless; it takes its form in the shape of a hunt." I felt disappointment flow through me as well as the sweat that was covering my brow. A lump of bile rose inside my mouth; I couldnt hunt!

"Tomorrow morning, just before the sun rises over the left mountain, each of you will take off to find something that shall be hidden somewhere on the island. You will not be allowed to know what the object is, untill the very last minute." The queen looked straight down into each of our faces

"You will also only be allowed two pieces of equipment with yer; these have no boundaries so be wise with what ye select. Good luck to you all" The queen bowed as another huge roar erupted from the crowd before some started exciting the arena.

There were no words to describe the panic that flew through my mind. I tried to cease the impossible moment my mind would kick into gear but it seemed useless.

Gobber looked to me concerned.

"We'l have a while ter figure somethin' out don' yer worry!" He slapped my back as my father made his way over to me laughing as he did so.

"Well done son! The princess loved yer gift! She was sat engulfed in yer arrow! Haha! I didn't think yer had it in yer! But yet again yer full o surprises" I groaned at my father's antics.

"Yes it feels amazing to hear you say that" I said flatly, he just laughed again.

We waited for the stadium to clear still standing in the centre of the ring while the other suitors moved out chatting to themselves. I could tell Snotlout was going to become a serious problem due to all the looks and sneers he was sending me. I'd never seen him so volatile; but luckily for me, that meant he was going to do a lot of stupid things.

"YER!" Meridas Voice startled me as she came trudging towards me at a speed that was probably deemed unlady like. My eyes flicked to my father who looked back to me in shock.

"Yer! How did yer? When did yer? WHAT?!" She seemed flustered to which i smiled and chuckled under my breath.

"I wanted it to be similiar to the one...you...you know" I said rubbing the side of my neck. I looked up to see her face beeming towards me smiling.

"A...A cannea believe that yer would go to soo much effort, it mus' o took yer days ter make!" She seemed in disbelief at me clutching the arrow close to her.

Gobber pushed past my shoulder to grab the Princesses attention.

"Oh yes it did! all heart this one!" He said nudging my eyes, when in reality it had only took me half an hour, but I knew what he was doing; he wanted to to seem caring and impressive. Something that i felt a little nervous about. I was of course Hiccup after all and I certanly didnt get called Hiccup for no reason.

Merida gave a nervous giggle and looked back to me. A warmth travelled through me again, shocking my system. What on earth was happening to me?

"Yer even carved my Initial into it" she said in a factly tone. I smirked to her leaning closer. My hand instinctively went to hers which clutched the arrow. As my hand made contact with hers both our skin crept with goosebumps.

"Turn it over" I said swallowing the lump in my throat. She followed the stare I had on the back of the arrow as her eyes captured our hands together. I noticed her catch her breath.

Slowly I flipped the arrow over and let go of her hand to reveal the carved indint figure of Toothless. I looked to Meridas face who just seemed to stare down at the tiny carving. Her mouth created a small O shape as her eyes fixed down on the figure. Pride seemed to overflow within me and my concience was doubled over dancing inside my head.

Merida looked back to me and smiled an honest smile.

"yer amazing" she stated, a look of disbelief crossed her face; im sure my own face mirrored the emotion.

The King and Queen made their way over to us smiling as they went and watching their daughter intently.

"Well done Hiccup!" Fergus bellowed to which Merida overheard and blushed. Her eyes fell to the floor, before lighting up again and looking to her mother.

"Can a go now? Please?" She was bouncing up and down, her mother sighed.

"A suppose, but Merida, yer cannea go shootin' everythin yer see! Remember this isn't our land!" she warned as Merida nodded excitedly before rushing out of the gateway in a fast manor, I was disappointed; she didn't even look back at me.

"What was all that about?" Stoic asked them, her mother laughed under her breath.

"My sweet girl loves archery, can yer believe it? She's the best of our clan; never missed a target ter this day" She said sweetly, a hidden sense of pride was hidden under her tone.

"Wow, very impressive; how did you know that Hiccup?" Gobber asked I just shrugged not wanting to bring up the issue of her shooting me down knowing it would cause a problem. I kept it quiet knowing that all our little chats were helping me understand her more. I felt like I was putting myself into a dangerous situation with her, but all the while I couldn't care less; as long as she was happy that was all that mattered. She didn't deserve this, but it was the law, so if I could ease it just a little bit, then I didn't see anything wrong with being there for her…getting her things she liked, maybe even teaching her more about the dragons.

I slammed the breaks on my loose thoughts reining in my concentration.

"Well, she carries a bow with her a lot and I remember her telling me at dinner last night." I coughed out rubbing my neck, each of our parents shared a pleasing look.

"Well, it was a lovely Gesture" Eleanor looked down to me pleased.

Suddenly I felt a gush of wind and a gentle nudge by my side, the soft purring noise alerted me that it was Toothless.

"Oh hey bud! How are you" I said rubbing his head as he made a noise of content.

"Fancy going on a flight?" I told him to which he nodded a little shaking his body and turning himself around to face the gateway, his head twitched right beckoning me towards him.

"So…are we done for the day?" I asked suddenly remembering where I was and what had just happened. My dad nodded.

"Gone on" he said as I shoved my prosthetic into the holster on Toothless's saddle and hoisted myself onto his back.

"Il sees you later then!" I called as Toothless crouched down and plunged into the sky.

The feeling of this was unlike anything I had ever felt before, to be soaring through the air; it was something I had never gotten used to in 3 years, and it was something I hoped I would never have to. The wind whipped my face dancing around me as we cut through the sky line. I filled Toothless in on today's current details to which he rolled his eyes at. I guess he would never fully understand the situation I was in. He didn't seem too fussed by it all as we curved down past the mountain tops and tree lines. Turning upside down, Toothless lead me into a nose dive above the sea staring head first down into the blue shimmering water below, as I unclipped my footing and crouched on his back. The adrenaline pulsing through me was like a drug, it heightened each of my senses to that of a dragons, it made me feel like I was capable of so much more than what I thought I could be. And then I let go falling back into the wind letting gravity take me down with it. I pushed my arms out to either side of me and took a deep breath.

Free falling was certainly something worth doing. It released all my negative thoughts and energy's and made me concentrate on the good things in life. All too soon I found myself thinking of Merida; the way she moved and danced the night before, her infectious smile and aluminous eyes. That fire red hair...

Toothless made a screech then to which pulled me from my thoughts as we both plummeted into the water below. My mind raced into gear as my body tensed under the cold water, this had happened many times before on a first try, but I was equally as shock as Toothless that it had.

I found him within a millisecond and managed to fight against the water to lock my foot into place on his squirming back. I pulled back into position four as we both lifted off out of the water in a fast motion regaining speed.

I shivered looking to my soaking wet clothes; Toothless made a sharp yapping sound scolding me.

"Sorry, bud I dunno what came over me" I told him honestly. Blinking back remembering the dive; there was a moment when I couldn't feel anything except warmth that spread through my body. I shook my head clearing the distant feeling.

"Come on, let's head east" I told him as we flushed with speed past the waters below.

"WOOOO!" I screeched revelling in the feeling of flying as we bounded over the rocky area below.

Again I unclipped my footing and jumped from Toothless's back. This time I concentrated hard on not falling as I landed with a thud on top of a large rocky cliff, taking off sprinting with toothless swooping underneath it before coming back level with me as I dived back onto him, we repeated this for the rest of the standing rocks below enjoying our little assault course. I took a huge breath in exhausted from my sprinting as Toothless let out a fiery yelp, shooting a plasma ball which would surely, like always, come firing back to face me.

I rolled my eyes and let the flames spread past me heating my face and burning my cheeks slightly. I had grown that accustom to the feeling; it seemed natural for me to run a temperature now.

After another hour or so of flying, the sun was setting into a pink silhouette over Firepeak Mountain; soon it would be dark so we landed back down in ravens point to rest.

"Good fly today bud, sorry about the whole water thing" I told him patting his side and taking off his saddle. Toothless narrowed his eyes down looking flatly to me for a second, before he walked away from me and whipped my side with his tail.

A small chuckle followed suit from him.

"Hey!" I chasted as I watched him walk up to and sniff the lake; he was hungry. I had seen there was a large fish below the water that he wanted but being the large dragon that he was, he couldn't be quiet if he wanted to hunt, but none the less he would try. I watched while stripping down from my soaked armour, quite happily just wearing my tunic and long brown pants that were now only damp.

Slowly but steadily, he leaned forward reaching for it but the fish froze, seeing his face, and swam away quickly. I all but laughed at his poor attempt.

"Aww come on bud there's more where that came from" I told him scratching his head. He huffed disappointed by his feeble attempt. A new small laugh entered the air. My head whipped round to face the large stone boulder that ran down to Ravens peak.

There stood on the rocks was Merida with her bow slung over her back shoulder. Her hair had been released from its secure braid and ran freely in all directions. A smile filled my face.

"A thought A'd find yer here!" she called as I made my way over to her. She began climbing down the rocks towards me in a quick motion. I felt a sense of worry enter my system

_What if she slipped or fell?_

_What if she cut herself?_

I moved over to where the boulder was and stood at the bottom waiting for her to reach me. Of course she reached the bottom of the peak without any problems or without needing any assistance from me. I cursed inwardly, disappointed I couldn't have helped her.

"So what 'av a' missed?" She beamed to me as we both walked back over to Toothless, whose tail was wagging at a fast impatient speed before he couldn't wait any longer and bounded over to see her. He nearly knocked her to the ground with his force but she just laughed it off

"Aww Toothless! A' missed yer too! Did yer not catch the fish yer were wantin'?" she said hugging his large head in an awkward fashion.

Toothless looked to Merida with his big round eyes which then flicked towards the lake. She moved away from us then as she took her bow off her shoulder and grabbed an arrow from her quiver.

Walking over to the lake she eyed the fish that he couldn't catch before kneeling down carefully and in an unusually graceful manor, slowly she placed the arrow in the bow and pulled it back.

My eyes wandered slightly over her full figure then. I couldn't help myself with the way she was leaning.

She just curved in all the right places, her back arched as she pulled the bow backwards revealing the top part of her chest making me gulp. I had never really looked at a girl in the way before, I mean sure Astrid was pretty but back then I never seemed to take notice of these things. Merida's dress seemed to sit in the right position just to show enough flesh. Fire found its self in the middle of my core as I breathed out, my eyes carried on up past her collar bone and to her perfectly pale neck, they skimmed over her dusted freckled cheeks to her eyes which were so intently focused on her prey. I wanted nothing more to be in front of her face, to stare into those concentrated eyes and feel her emotions. My eyes went back down to her cheeks as I tried to count every freckle on her face but it was all too soon as she released the bow and it shot into the water; straight into the fish Toothless had eyed.

I forced myself out of my current state and fell back into one of complete awe; I had never met anyone like her.

She turned to face me smiling and gave a wink to Toothless who had moved next to her excitedly. She hoisted her dress up and stomped into the water, again my eyes moved to her legs which were just briefly shown from underneath the water.

"Och, this bloody dress!" she whined tugging on the end of it as it fell back into the water.

She leaned down to grab the hunted fish and turned to show toothless. Happily he ran in excitedly after her knocking her down to the ground and further into the water. Toothless, completely oblivious to the situation, turned and started to eat his fish.

She gasped in shock but spluttered when she reached the surface into laughter.

"Aww Toothless, always the charmer" she giggled before swimming to where I was stood.

"And wha' der yer think yer doing? Not coming to rescue a ladea" She goaded as I shook myself out of my current thoughts and looked down to her.

"O….OH! S..sorry Merida..I..I was just"

"Get in here!" She laughed reaching up to pull on the collar of my tunic which sent me flying forwards into the water. I plunged into it headfirst feeling its icy blow to my entire face. In a way I was glad; I needed a cold shower.

She began laughing hysterically as I reached the surface with shock that filled my face. My cheeks stung with the cold prick of the water and i felt my bones cease up before becoming relaxed into the cooling lake.I looked towards her then, smirking as I did so; slowly but carefully, i began watching her again in a new way that i had never done before, I began to move in the water stedily as if to not disturb it before throwing my self up and began throwing water at her. Merida gasped in shock and i thought for one moment i had hurt her, but her gasp turned into a hunters face and soon she began to throw the water back my way laughing as she did so.

We stayed like that for a short while, just joking about in the water, but all too soon the sun water setting deeper into the sky.

"Come on" I said swimming to the edge of the water pulling myself up onto my feet as I turned and waited for her to follow me, she stretched her back and swam forwards. I leaned down offering her my hands to which she took confidently as I pulled her up onto the dry land. I must have pulled a little too hard though as all of a sudden her nose was touching mine.

Her eyes were just as wide as mine were and neither of us had taken a breath. I had never been this close to her before; here I could see every single little feature of her face and those eyes.

I had never seen such beauty before, her eyes looked like lightening had struck in her irises, in some places the blue was darker and in some the blue was so bright I was sure it would have blinded me. My hands still had hold of hers and could feel how soft they were.

I looked down to her perfectly shaped lips, they gleamed a pearly pink which contrasted well with her skin tone.

I gulped and breathed out.

She seemed to shake herself, coming out of her trance as She swallowed and let go of my hands, I took a step away from her then rubbing my neck

"T…Thanks" she blushed looking up to me shyly.

"Don…Don't mention it" I said in a nervous manor.

From the left Toothless made a purring noise that sounded like a question.

I looked back to Merida whose face seemed to slowly light up with humour. I felt my own face burn with embarrassment and humour. Both of us laughed it off in an awkward state; it seemed easier.

"We should really be heading back you know" I told her to which she sighed and groaned.

"Urgh I wish we didn't have ter, A've had Snotlout tryin' ter find me all day! He's insufferable!" She told me as I laughed.

"Well…I suppose we could set a little fire down here for a while, maybe cook some fish for dinner?" I asked as an option. Her face lit up with happiness.

"Now that sounds good ter me, il go get us some fish and il leave yer and Toothless to set up the fire!" She smiled before turning around heading towards the lake that was positioned only a few feet away.

I gathered some wood from the nearby shrub bushes all the while my eyes staying on her. What was happening to me? I had never felt so infatuated with another human before. Maybe it was because she was pretty and I felt attracted to her, which I definitely did.

If I kept standing watching her before there would have been a serious embarrassing incident with something showing up.

Maybe it was because I craved her friendship which was unlike anything I had ever done before. Maybe it was because it felt so easy being around her that, I, being my awkward self just wanted to make things difficult.

She shot 3 fish with two arrows which impressed me, before turning round in the shallow water, putting down her bow and arrow and crouching over before catching it mid jump.

Suddenly pain shot through my hand as I realised I had stabbed myself on a thorn bush without noticing. A small drop of blood was forming in the centre of my palm, I hissed under my breath as Toothless looked up and growled towards it.

"it's okay bud I just hurt myself, it's alright" I calmed him down feeling his body vibrating with anger.

"Come on lets go light a fire" I said to him piling some wood up onto his back as he walked over and dumped it in a pile to my right.

Once Toothless had lit a fire I sat down enjoying the heat; the sun had completely disappeared in the sky and now darkness was surrounding us; the sky above had turned a navy dark blue and some of the winter stars were becoming visible.

Merida came over and flopped down beside me, she began poking some fish with large sticks and placing them into the fire.

"That's two fer us and four fer Toothless, here yer go" She said handing them to Toothless, who grinned at her purring before he moved to sit down behind the both of us, his head laid down next to me as his tail curled round in front of Merida in a protective way.

I turned my hand over to see it in the light of the fire, It didn't look too bad but it was turning red as a little more blood fell out of it.

I heard Merida gasp slightly.

"What have yer dun now!" She said sounding exasperated, reaching over to put my hand in hers to look at it more clearly. I scooted closer to her; partly because she pulled me towards her and partly because I wanted to.

I watched her carefully as she examined my palm, her fingers cold like ice and smooth. She didnt seem to notice which frightened me, had she been sitting here like this? shed die!

"Your freezing!" I told her my other hand unconsciously wrapping it around hers to warm them up.

Her eyes met mine once again. Her face filled with shock and neither of us dare take a breath; it was almost like she was searching for something on my face. Then she breathed out and shuffled a little closer to me.

"How are yer so warm?" she said looking down to the floor. I couldn't tell if the flush on her cheeks was the fire light echoing onto her skin or whether she was blushing or not.

"I..er well I run a temperature, I've gotten used to Toothless shooting fire enough to stand being around it" I said softly. She smiled, her eyes still looking on the ground.

_Come on look up at me please…_

"That's no' normal yer know, running a temperature like this" She swallowed her eyes visiting the fire now.

_Please look at me...let me see your eyes_

"You get use to it" I told her shrugging. "You look tired" I stated to which she nodded.

"mmm yeah, A' had Snotlout runnin' after me terday, A' turned up at the stadium again ter see if a' could find yer, but yer da' said that yer had gone with Toothless. Then _God's gift to women_ found me Och hes discustin! Am no marryin' tha!" She groaned. Her fingers moved in my own, not letting them go, just softly turning them around to feel the fire on the back of her hand. I could literally feel my heart in my mouth, I felt like it was going to explode out of my chest at any moment. She was here sitting next to me, holding my hands. I was surprised she didn't comment on how loud my heart sounded; it was currently ringing in my ears and echoed around. I was sure Toothless could hear it, his head popped up his eyes pulled together looking from me and Merida, which meant something was odd as Toothless will never stop for nothing when eating his dinner.

"A' never got ter thank yer by the way" she whispered. Finally her eyes caught my own. And again I melted like butter, my organs seemed to detach from my whole body as her eyes enveloped me. My brain disconnected from my body and I reeled in from the happiness I had of her sitting next to me here by the fire. Just us two and Toothless; It was Perfect.

"Its one o' the best Arrows a' hav" she smiled now a little more confident.

"You've…you've tried it then" I praised myself inwardly for keeping my cool with her, I could almost feel awkward pathetic Hiccup wanting to claw its way out of me. But that couldn't happen. Not now, definitely not at this moment.

"Well, yes, quite a lot actually" She laughed.

"Ah, noticed, yer remembered the details" The fire made her seem enchanted; she looked almost artificial, like a ghost dancing in the fire light.

My brain started screaming at me to say something back but I just couldn't. I couldn't say anything but just sit and revel at her. I tried, I really did, somewhere inside my mind I could hear my conscious screaming at me to say something aswell, but she had me in a trance.

"Hiccup?" She whispered searching my eyes; it only made it worse as now she had moved closer and was staring me dead in the eyes.

I felt like I was going to throw up, but at the same time I felt like I could have run a marathon instead.

_SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING! DEAR THOR! FOR GODS SAKE!_

I coughed and dropped my eyes, trying to avoid her own till I could stop my head from spinning.

"um sorry" I said flatly, blushing as I did so.

_Well done Hiccup….very impressive._

"Its alright, everything mus' be getting on top o' yer fer the hunt tomorrow, A' understand" She sighed looking away from me, she released my hands then and reached for the fish that looked fully cooked on the fire.

"Here" she said passing me a stick, her eyes adverted to the left as she took her first bite and chewed quietly. So many questions ran through my mind as well as my father's self-scolding voice

_WHAT YER DOIN! ASK HER WHA'S WRONG! _

Stoic's voice filled my head kicking me into gear. At a time like this I was glad my father was such a fearsome man.

"Whats wrong?" I asked her but she just shook her head.

"Och, its nothin' Hiccup Don' mind me" She smiled weakly to me before taking another bite. I looked down to my fish, realising that suddenly I didn't feel very hungry at all, I felt quite ill, and shaky. Pushing it to the side I asked her again.

"No come on, you can tell me, who am I gonna tell?" I joked to which she looked to me with sad eyes.

"Oh Hiccup, yer so lovely" She laughed. I knew she wouldn't tell me, she wasn't one to blurt things out in one go. What I wouldn't do to remove her sad eyes.

"Do yer ever look ter the skies and wish yer were free?" She asked, leaning back onto Toothless's back. I followed her resting on his warm side, I felt his stomach grumble and rise slowly in a soothing way. I thought carefully about my answer before looking up to the sky

"Well…sorta, I mean I think I know where you're coming from with the whole marriage thing, but if I wasn't stuck to rules then I wouldn't have met toothless; sometimes rules and traditions are put in place for us to break" I could feel every inch of me dancing in that one moment. Merida said nothing so I looked to her to find her eyes shut and a peaceful look set on her face.

Shed fallen asleep. For once I'd been awesome and shed fallen asleep.

"I guess that means its home time" I sighed. "Come on Bud" I said standing up, I looked to Toothless to whose eyes were closed as well.

"Aw come on" I groaned moving over to stand beside Toothless, I knelt down beside him and gave his shoulder a nudge,

He made an unsettled noise but didn't wake. I did it again a little harder and the noise got louder.I shoved him as hard as I could this time and one eye flew open in an angry motion.

"Well good evening" I said sarcastically. He groaned and stretched his head.

"We need to be getting home bud, sorry for the moving." I told him. He huffed and resorted to standing up slowly. I moved to where Merida was sat at that moment and held her back as Toothless stood up and turned round.

"Im gonna put her on your back al right Bud?" I asked to which he made his usual purring noise the leant down waiting. I managed to pull her up as her head flopped into the crook on my neck, her arms lay limb; one of them slung around my shoulder where I had put it. I could feel my self shaking as I put my hands around her waist to keep her from falling. Her breath tickled my neck creating the hairs all over me to stand to alert. Again, this sickly feeling spread through me as my stomach flipped and a sudden urge ran through my system. I swallowed as I moved my hands on her back.

I took a deep breath desperately trying to regain my sanity on the situation.

"I can do this" I mumbled as carefully in one swift motion, using all the strength I had, I lifted Merida onto toothless's back to which she settled into quickly.

I spun around and looked away from her for a moment composing my self before, I to climbed up on Toothless, With Merida curled up in front of me and leant over her carefully.

"Nice and easy bud, shes asleep remember" I told him as carefully, Toothless readjusted his shoulders and carefully lifted us up into the air.


	15. And So It Begins

I managed to get back to the house without anyone spotting us; I would of been in so much trouble if i was out this late with the princess of all people. You see the rules of these games were very strict, with detailed laws threaded through the games, with certain ties that to me made no sense. But I guessed to the Scots they meant a lot.

Slowly, Toothless followed me inside as we crept past the large chairs that created a silhouette by the crisping fire glow.

"Hiccup" My fathers stern voice shocked my system as I met Toothless's eyes who stood to alert as well.

I turned to face the large hunched chair, realising it was my father. Shit.

"Uh...hi dad...what are you doing up so late?" I smiled to him my hands flying behind my back as I pointed to Toothless to take Merida upstairs. Slowly he crept away at a snails pace.

"Well i've been waiting for you" He said as I took in his facial expression; he was not very happy to see me. I gulped the lump in my throat back.

"Me? oh that was nice of you...just checking that i'm safe and..uhh. you know" I said joking with him. He sighed and turned his head away from me rubbing the side of his face before turning to look back at me.

"Hiccup, wha' have yer and Merida been up too today?" He said in a low voice. Panic shocked my system as he turned to face me.

"Who?! me and the princess?! Dad ive been with Toothless flying for most of the day and then she came to find me I...I didn't steal her or anything" I said bewildered at his question.

"Hiccup she was meant to be at 'er mothers lessons this evenin'! and yer both missed dinner! did you not think wed notice two empty chairs!" He hissed in a hushed whisper. My face went red.

"Dad I..I swear I didn't know and even then I would of brought her back, but she didn't want too! I did say we should head back...but then she fell into the water because Toothless was eating her fish! and I couldn't bring her back to the village like that! so I said we made a fire and had dinner! then she fell asleep on me.. but not in that way!.. but now..shes home! and asleep! so every-things fine!" I smiled accentuating my words

Stoics face mirrored the expression of when he first seen me ride Toothless. It was stunned and slightly worried.

"Son, maybe you should get some sleep" He nodded pulling his eyebrows together. I slapped my hang in front of my face.

"I'm not crazy dad, its just been...a long day" I sighed going to sit beside him.

He sighed and lifted his chunky eyebrows of his eyes.

"How so?" He asked. I stared into the warm fires glow letting the heat flood my body, pushing me to feel a little more tired by the second.

"Well I've not been feeling...all to well I guess, I feel...well weird" I told him; my fathers face didn't change as he gestured for me to carry on.

"So today I was flying Toothless, when all of a sudden I loose my train of thought and We plummet into the water; I've never once lost concentration when flying Toothless."

my eyes stared straight into the red flames; they were dancing round creating a certain glow to the room...The way they moved around room in a majestic and sauntering way...

Just like that flame red hair...

"Hiccup?" My fathers hand appeared in front of my face snapping me out of my hazy day dream.

"Huh?" I said turning to look at him. He sighed.

"I was saying, maybe yer just feeling tired, its been a big change having the family move in with us, and with all these games goin on..I know how it feels to be swept up in all this...stuff goin on around yer, yer'l get use to it, nothing stops yer from doin something" He chuckled under his breath.

For a millisecond my eyes flicked to my leg as I pushed down the raw feeling of sadness that sometimes flooded my system. Without my Prosthetic, I wouldn't be Hiccup.

I yawned and Stretched looking to my dad.

"I guess your right, I really need to sleep; early start tomorrow right?" I said sarcastically, My dad smiled to me in a knowing way.

"Don' pretend like yer not makin' an effort, I seen the way yer looked at tha' princess today"

He said, sending me a half smile. I rolled my eyes and slowly trudged up the stairs.

"Goodnight Dad", I called when I reached the top of the stairs as I flung my self down onto the soft, yet hard wooden bed and shut my eyes, the opened for a fraction of a second checking that Toothless was curled up before they re shut tight for the rest of the night.

* * *

"_Mery we cant go that high!" I whined. Here I was only 4, petite and still a Hiccup._

_"Sure we can Hiccup! We can do anything we want too!" A young Merida flew past me jumping from one foot to the other over the small pebbles of water that ran below us. I pulled a worried face._

_"I thought you were my hero" She turned round to look at me with big blue eyes. Younger me smiled hugely._

_"I am but I cant climb!" _

_Young Merida danced towards me her hair bouncing up and down in the wind. She stood right in front of my face._

_"Il teach you! Come on!" She said taking hold of my hand and pulling me over the pebbles._

_We ran to a small rock which both of us pulled our selves up on, I could see Merida standing on her tiptoes trying to see over the mountains silhouette._

_"Were still not high enough, come on!" She pulled me onto another huge rock beside us and stood on her tiptoes like before. Her eyes pulled together in thought._

_"What do you want Mery?" I asked standing on my own feet as well trying to see over the mountains._

_"I want to see the light Hiccup! I want to see over the mountains and climb into the stars! that way Il always be free!" she said her eyes still pulled together as she continued to stretch on her feet._

_I pulled my own face together concentrating on her little crazy idea._

_"I could come with you some day" I said looking to her with my own big eyes. She smiled._

_"I thought you would come anyway" She giggled and jumped down from the rock and began twirling in circles._

_"Just think about it Hiccup; we'l go everywhere the stars go! no one will stop us" she said taking hold of my hands and spinning me round too._

_I laughed with her joyously._

_"Hiccup! Merida!" It was my fathers voice as we both looked to each other grinning and turned to run back to where my fathers voice had came from..._

I woke to feel freezing water covering my face making me blubber as I widely opened my eyes and looked around the room. Gobber stood with a bucket under his arm.

"Wha...what was that for?" I breathed out choking up the remaining water that had shot down my throat.

"Morning lad! time ter get started!" Gobber smiled at me as I just stared at him in shock...

I must have only had maybe 3 or 4 hours sleep as the sun hadn't even risen yet.

"Wha...why?!" I asked confused.

"Hiccup, did yer forget about yer quest?! yer have ter go on a hunt!" Realisation hit me again, I moaned into my hands and rubbed my eyes. I didn't want to go on a hunt! I couldn't hunt to save my life!

"Is all this really necessary? Im not gonna win anything!" I huffed like a small child throwing my legs over the side of the bed. Gobber snorted.

"Och come on Hiccup! yer been deein so well!" He said

"But that's because I could do those tasks, I cant do this!"

"yer ride dragons lad, surprise yer sel" He said to me, I found it slightly laughable that he thought I, Hiccup the runt could do this.

I huffed knowing it was easier to just stop arguing and began stretching my muscles

"Have yer got yer two items?" Gobber asked to which my eyes flickered to his in confusion. Gobber's face turned to shock.

"Och Hiccup! Don tell me yer forgot! yer need two pieces of equipment to help yer today!" He gasped I shushed him as best as I could rubbing my neck.

"Its al right! Its fine...what do I need?" I asked him; Gobbers face didn't show any sign amusement or any form of emotion at all. He just stood with his eyes pulled together in a flat look.

"Okay...maybe it is a big deal" I huffed rubbing the side of my neck and cracking it from left to right.

"What are ye gonnea dea lad! the hunt begins in 5 minutes!" He said pacing backwards and forwards.

"Why cant I take Toothless? Can't he be my equipment for this thing?" I asked looking over to the bed, it seemed Toothless had disappeared from his bed which surprised me as he was never one to wake up earlier than normal. I turned my attention back to Gobber who sighed into his hands

"Unfortunately, no. The dragons are no' allowed to compete or be used under any circumstances. Its strictly tradition." He said to me pulling on one end of his long moustache.

I thought carefully for what seemed forever, desperately trying to work out what I could use to take with me on this hunt; I couldn't fight, that was for sure, I couldn't do anything that required strength or lifting. What was I meant to do! I was a sure fail for this type of thing! The all two familiar feeling of panic, sweaty palms and angst flooded me.

"Hiccup, yer look like yer gonnea pass out" Gobber said as I swayed from side to side, realising that it was I that was moving and not the ground beneath my feet.

I looked towards the moving Gobber as he came over and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Easy lad, Yer feelin' alright?" He asked as I took a deep breath in and out.

"Gobber...I haven't been feeling well lately...like at all" I told him honestly and looking towards him for an answer, His eyebrows pulled together looking down to the floor.

"Well whats been happening?" he asked Coming to sit down beside me.

"Just, a lot of weird feelings, not like painful but...weird and...well its like there growing" I told him sighing into my hands before looking back to his face.

"Hmm, well I'm no' to sure laddie, tell yer wha' come find me after this hunt terday and we'l talk about it, see if we can crack what's going on" He told me yawning. "Now what about some weapons ter take wi' ye?" He said straightening himself up.

In the end I decided to go with some of my old gadgets that were deemed off limits to others; they had to be used sometime.

One came in the shape of a rope with a metal claw that looked helpful for climbing, the other was a map of the Island to help me check all the islands nooks and crannies.

I may not have stood a chance with winning this thing, but I could have a try. That way I wouldn't look such an embarrassment against the other suitors.

"Come on Laddie, this is only yer second day, and yer did soo well; it would be ashamed ter no' have a go at it" he nudged me, making me smile slightly to the floor. I stood up straight throwing my rope over my shoulder and brushing down my tunic rolling up the sleeves on it.

"Okay. I'm ready" I breathed out, the feelings of nervousness vanished as I kept breathing slowly. Gobber nodded to me looking slightly worried yet slightly reserved as the screech of trumpets echoed timidly through the wooden walls into my room.

"Looks like its time, Come on 'iccup, time ter show em what yer made of" He said to me winking before he turned to run out of the house.

I looked around my room once more before turning to head down the stairs. It was only when I felt my heart stop; that I froze where I was stood and looked to my left.

Where was Merida? How come I hadn't heard a slight movement or a deep breath, or anything as such from her. I moved slowly, quite worried as I pulled back the curtain that separated our beds.

She wasn't there. Panic flowed through me as I tried to reason with my concious self. She was already probably awake waiting outside for her suitors. Suddenly my illness came flooding back into my system shocking everything in its wake and winding my lungs. The breath rushed out of me and I could hear my heart beat in my head. I swallowed closing my eyes trying to balance the feeling of incompleteness. I felt like there was something missing in my system; something that deeply disturbed myself and my body. I felt like I needed something. Something to kick start my body into functioning properly.

Suddenly a loud cheer interrupted my state as I breathed in and out slowly stopping my current dizzy spells. I continued my journey down the stairs and outside putting my thoughts of Merida into a box inside my head and concealed it there for a while.

* * *

Again the turnout was spectacular just as before with these things, even for a dark frosty morning, everyone had turned out; large fires stood glowing atop of the huge stands we had made for the dragons lighting up the area around us, while people had gathered in a large circle cheering.

I made my way over to the centre of the circle where the other suitors were stood. Kicking there feet and talking amongst them selves.

"Morning guys" I said yawning at the same time.

"Some morning this is! I want to still be in bed!" Tuffnut complained stretching his neck. I squinted in confusion. Hadn't they put themselves up for the games?

"I thought you would be interested in these games?" I asked him a little unsure of the answer.

"Paha! No! Who wants to get _married! _ I just want to smash things and fight! My stupid dad put me up to this" He said kicking his feet.

"Yeah mine too, as much as I think the princess is lovely, I really don't wanna be married, but my father says its all about honour not love." Fishlegs sighed rubbing his arm

"Well that makes me feel a little better knowing that I'm not the only one whose been forced into doing this" I said rubbing my neck. Deep down I felt some kind of relief in my system; and not in the way I would of thought. I was relieved due to the fact that these boys wouldn't try their best in these games; yes they would try to win these games, they would try for their fathers, probably try their hardest, but their heart wasn't in the chase.

Did that mean my heart was?

"Oh please, your all just wussys! I'm going for the hand of the princess and her kingdom! A life of riches with that gorgeous thing by my side to do whatever I wish! perfect life style for me!" Snotlouts obnoxious voice filled my body with rage as he barged past Fishlegs. I shared a look with Fishlegs before I turned to face him.

How could he speak about her life that! she was very much her own person and she didn't need to be bossed around by Snotlout that was for sure. I wouldnt alow it! My sudden power shocked my system causing my heart to jump start, where was this confidence coming from?

And then the fear spread through my system. Snotlout was huge! he could easily win this thing with time to spare and without having to break a sweat, and here I was mentally squaring my self up to him

_Always a hero, aren't you Hiccup..._

"And Haddock! Stay out my way today!" he said coming over to lean down closely to my face before he took off to where his father was stood, stomping by as he went.

"Wow talk about getting up on the wrong side of the bed" Astrid's voice appeared out of nowhere as she was suddenly beside me.

"Morning to you to" I said sarcastically as she laughed slightly.

"How you feeling? You ready?" She said to me looking slightly worried.

"When am I ever ready?" I told her looking to her with a sarcastic look. She just smiled and hit me on the arm

"You'l be fine! just... keep away from Snotlout" She said uneasily as I looked towards where he was stood. His father was holding rocks in front of him as Snotlout smashed them with his head.

"His fathers such a bad influence" She mumbled shaking her head in disbelief at him. I looked towards Snotlout and His father, both of them seemed to be getting psyched up for the event...It was quite disturbing to watch.

"Well any ways, I'l see you later! Good luck Hiccup!" She said putting her hand on my arm and smiling towards me, before she turned on her feet and began walking back to her family as I took my place next to Gobber.

He nudged me slightly in order to make me stand straight.

"Yer got yer stuff sorted?" He asked quietly. I looked down for my rope and map, and nodded. It was only then I noticed the other suitors choice of weapons. Some were understandable, using axes and knifes, Fishlegs carried a large book; probably one covering the island similar to mine, while Snotlout carried...well nothing I could see. From what It seemed, It appeared he was going to face this challenge all alone, quite literally with no weapons or armour.

As if i needed any more reasons to be embarrassed.

Like before, the trumpets rose into the air in the royal salute. I found my self looking for Merida, searching for any sign of her fiery curls or the sound of her thick accented voice, but to my surprise she was no where to be seen.

I felt my eyes pull together and my lips purse to the side, I looked over to where my father stood next to King fergus, but again their was no sign of her. I swallowed deeply and turned to Gobber.

"Not to shock anyone but... where's Merida?" I asked Gobber quietly. He chuckled under his breath.

"What yer after her for? a gud luck kiss?" he said making a smacking sound with his lips. I rolled my eyes at him continuing my search. In the background I could hear the formal music pipe up and the crowd gushing over with excitement. But nothing registered with me.

I thought hard for a short time in worry...where was she?

After all, this was for her.

"Morning to you all! and welcome ter the second day of the games" My fathers voice boomed over the crowd making my head spin towards him, secretly hoping Merida would be hidden behind his shadow.

"As all of you know, yesterday the firs' task was announced to our suitors, and they have been training all night, in preparation of terdays hunt..." My fathers voice seemed to echo out of my head as my eyes skimmed around the area looking for anything that even symbolised Merida, but I found nothing.

My breathing slowed down to a long deep hush as my mind ran into overdrive to try and find some sign of Merida among the crowd again, this time checking over again to see if she had crouched down before and Id missed her.

But again no such sign.

I tried to get my mind to agree with the fact that she wasn't here but my heart wouldn't accept it. She wouldn't be aloud to miss an event like this, she couldn't miss an event like this. Was she ill?

"Hiccup!" Gobber shook my shoulders bringing me out of my loose thoughts. I blinked a few times gaining recognition of my surroundings.

The area was silent, completely dead, and yet everyone remained in the same place with one exception; there eyes were glued on me. Including my large fathers whose were now in front of me. Fire spread to my face in sheer embarrassment. I had missed him asking me an important question...In front of royalty. I was going to be killed later on.

"Um...sorry...what?" I asked shaking my head. My fathers face looked a mixture of emotion crossed with anger and panic.

"I said... Hiccup, are you ready?" He gritted through his teeth. I stared at him for a little while longer unsure of what he meant till Gobber nudged me.

"For terday Hiccup! The hunt" He hissed under his breath as I sucked a breath in.

"OH! Right the hunt! ..y..yes sure I'm ready" I nodded swallowing down the air I just sucked in. A wave of relief seemed to spread through the unsteady crowd as my father sighed before moving down the line to the next suitor.

Gobber moved closer to me.

"Wha' was all tha' about?" He exasperated.

"Sorry I was just...just distracted" I told him looking to the floor. His eyes narrowed with amusement hidden behind them.

"Yer were lookin' fer her again werent yer?" He whispered as i felt the blush rise to my cheeks. Stupid blood.

"Aha! I caught yer!" He laughed under his breath as I huffed and dug my prosthetic into the soft ground below.

"Lets just get this thing over with" I sighed looking forward.

My father travelled down the line of suitors all asking whether they were willing and whether they were ready. To which all of them grumbled a yes. That is with the exception of Snotlout who stood with his chin pointed to the sky and a heroic look spread all over his smug face. Of course Snotlout would be up for a chance to show the village what he was capable of. I felt fire burn within my stomach turning my slurry tired mind into one of anger and alertness. I wouldn't let him try to control my friend...if that was what she was to me..

It seemed when we spent time together our formal status's blurred, and if I was honest, I liked that. I liked the fact she didn't see me through her mothers eye. She just seen me as a whole person. Not a suitor.

Maybe on some level I knew it was because we were friends in a past life, but maybe, just maybe it was something else. Something much deeper and different...

Something which I couldn't concentrate on now.

Once the rest of the suitors had agreed that they were indeed ready for this hunt, we were all moved to the side of the cliffs edge waiting for the sun to just appear around the peak of left mountain side. If I was perfectly honest, I would of much rather preferred to have been curled up inside my bed dreaming again.

I thought back to last nights dream of my self and Merida, remembering her small self laughing and giggling as she went...I remembered her self confidence and innocence, how she took the world in her stride. I remembered her. I remembered sitting outside my house drawing while my father watched over us. Early dinners sat round our table, picnics and running and laughing...it was a happier time.

Suddenly a loud whistle alerted me making my eyes flick round the place, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Tuffnut had all took off running at a fast speed towards the cliffs edge, Gobber started pushing me.

Panic flooded my system. It had begun.

"Wait..wait Gobber what am I looking for?" I called to him as he shoved me in the direction. I started to jog slightly as I turned to look at him. He shouted something that I couldn't make out as I stopped and looked back to him with my head tilted

"WHAT?" I yelled

"GO!" Gobber, my father and the King and Queen yelled at me, even a few in the crowd...

Did they support me?

I took off running with no hope in the world. I watched as the other suitors ran off in all directions, I could feel myself having an internal argument about which way to go, but I let my legs do the running as I bounded off in the direction of the hills.

**Hey Guys sorry its took soo long for an update, hope your all enjoying the story :) please review! Let me know what you think Hiccups Looking for ;) **

**K1m xx**


End file.
